Man still critical after car crash Route 15 accident also hurts pastor

CORINTH – A Lincoln man remained in critical condition Tuesday evening at a Bangor hospital while a Charleston pastor was recuperating from his injuries at home after the two were involved in an accident on Route 15 on Monday afternoon.

Ricky Magoon, 25, appeared to have attempted to make a U-turn with his green Oldsmobile Achieva SL in the middle of the section of Route 15 near 626 Dover Road after initially traveling south, Trooper David Yankowsky said Tuesday. Retired Pastor Ronald Libby of the Charleston Pentecostal Church struck Magoon with his maroon Buick Ultra while traveling southbound.

Magoon spent four hours in surgery at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where physicians removed his spleen and attempted to repair broken ribs and stomach damage, Marie Magoon, his grandmother, said. Ricky Magoon was still on life support Tuesday evening.

Libby told police he had been driving from Dover-Foxcroft after a day of looking at cars. At the scene, officials said tire marks indicated Libby probably did not see Magoon’s car more than a second or two before impact.

“Mr. Libby thinks he remembers seeing a car crossways in the road,” the trooper said.

Magoon told officials at the scene he had left Brownville and was heading toward Dover-Foxcroft, Yankowsky said. Since Magoon already had traveled past Dover-Foxcroft, police believe he was making a U-turn to head back.

An emergency medical technician and a doctor passing the scene stopped and were among the first to aid the pair. Fatigue-clad members of the Air National Guard and several civilian passers-by also stopped to assist Corinth firefighters and emergency crews before the men were taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center.

A hitchhiker reported seeing Magoon traveling south on Route 15, but police were unable to find witnesses to the accident. Anyone who may have seen the accident take place are asked to call the Maine Sate Police at (800) 432-7381.

Magoon was trapped inside his crushed car, which was struck on the driver’s side, for nearly 25 minutes before rescue workers were able to free him, Yankowsky said. Magoon was wearing a seat belt.

It is unclear whether Libby was wearing a seat belt, the trooper said. Libby hit his head on the windshield but claimed he usually places the chest piece of his seat belt behind him because of shoulder problems. Libby is sore and bruised but did not break any bones, Judy Libby, his wife, said from the couple’s home.

Libby is known mainly throughout Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia for his 43-year tenure as pastor of the Charleston Pentecostal Church, his former “Heaven’s Harmony Hour” radio show and his television program “Soul’s Harbor.”

Officials still are investigating the accident and will run tests on the two vehicles while also attempting to determine the speed at which Libby was traveling, Yankowsky said.

The posted speed in the area of the accident is 55 mph.