East Machias ATV rider dies 24-year-old leading group fails to make turn in woods road

NORTHFIELD – An afternoon of four-wheeling turned to tragedy Monday when a 24-year-old East Machias man was fatally injured on a woods road off Route 192 in Washington County.

Warden Joseph McBrine said Jason Ackley was pronounced dead at Down East Community Hospital just before 9 p.m., approximately 31/2 hours after his all-terrain vehicle struck a tree on the Eastern Ridge Road.

Ackley and five other men who worked on the Cutler communication towers had been released from work earlier in the day because of lightning and had decided to go for a ride, the warden said.

McBrine said Ackley was about five feet ahead of the other riders when he failed to make a left-hand turn in the road.

Ackley’s ATV continued into the woods, snapping off one tree and striking a second, he said.

The warden said one of Ackley’s co-workers, Ronald Huff, administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and a camp owner in the area relayed a message to the Maine State Police by means of OnStar wireless communication.

Ackley was taken to the hospital by Machias Ambulance.

McBrine said Ackley’s injuries were so severe that he believes he would have died at the scene were it not for the efforts of his co-worker and the ambulance crew.

Hospital staff attempted to stabilize Ackley in preparation for transport to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, but Ackley, who never regained consciousness, was pronounced dead at 8:56 p.m.

McBrine, Warden Joey Gardner and Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy Travis Willey responded to the accident report.

McBrine said speed and alcohol were factors in the crash.