Bangor man critically hurt in Broadway crash

BANGOR – A Bangor man was in critical condition at an area hospital Christmas Day after he crashed his car on Broadway early in the morning.

Police were not certain what type of car the man had been driving because the accident demolished the vehicle almost beyond recognition, Bangor police Sgt. Bob Bishop said. “We can only say that it is a small silver car, possibly a Toyota.”

Police would not identify the driver, the sole occupant of the car, because of questions surrounding whether he would survive, Bishop said. Officials did say that the man is believed to be in his early 20s.

“It doesn’t look good,” the sergeant said.

The man had been driving north on Broadway just before 1:30 a.m. when he veered off the right side of the road as it began to curve to the left, police said. The car went into a ditch, where it struck the 2- to 3-foot-tall embankment of a driveway near 1618 Broadway, then vaulted into the air for more than 40 feet.

The weight of the engine caused the car to rotate forward and it struck a utility pole several feet off the ground roof first, causing the pole to break in two places, Bishop said. The man was ejected from the vehicle through a window at some point during the accident.

Officials believe speed and intoxicants were factors in the accident. The accident knocked out power, telephone and cable services to numerous customers in the area, including all of Greeley Street.

Nearly a dozen utility trucks from Bangor Hydro-Electric Co., Adelphia, Mid-Maine Communications and Verizon lined up along the sides of the roads until about 10:30 a.m. as a new pole was put in and services and severed lines were restored and repaired.

A chemical cleanup crew was summoned to the scene to clean up a large quantity of mineral oil that leaked from a transformer after it exploded during the accident.

The road was blocked off from the time of the accident until about 10:30 a.m. Holiday travelers and churchgoers expecting to travel on Broadway, which is part of Route 15, were greeted by roadblocks Wednesday morning. Those coming into the city were rerouted to the Finson Road and Ohio Street. Those trying to leave the city were directed to Union Street.

Nearby residents Anthony and Kimberly Herbert brought hot cocoa, doughnuts, cookies and muffins to crews that had been out in the cold for more than six hours.

“I would have brought coffee, but the power is out,” Kimberly Herbert explained to the crews.

The Herberts made their four sons wait for Christmas until crews had finished their duties.

“Come Monday I’ll be dressed just like this guy, working down in Massachusetts,” Anthony Herbert said, pointing at a Verizon worker. “I know how nice it is when you’ve been in the cold for hours and someone brings you something warm.”

The Herberts had just finished filling the last Christmas stocking in their Greeley Street home when they heard the crash and looked out a window in time to see two explosions from the transformer, Anthony Herbert said. Kimberly Herbert used a cell phone to call police, who arrived within minutes.

“He had to have hit that hard because we never heard any brakes,” she said. “That’s a horrible thing to happen to anyone on Christmas.”