Bradley car rollover kills woman; dad ok

BRADLEY – A local woman was killed early Monday morning after she apparently fell asleep at the wheel, according to Maine State Police. The driver’s father was the vehicle’s only passenger and escaped without injury.

State police would not release the name or hometown of the dead woman because other members of her family had not yet been told of the death.

The two were traveling north on Route 178 in Bradley when the car drifted off the right side of the road shortly after 6 a.m., Maine State Police Trooper Michael Johnston said.

“It looks like, from talking with witnesses at the scene, that the operator fell asleep,” Johnston said. After coming to, the driver jerked the wheel to the left in an attempt to get back on the road. She overcorrected and went off the left side of the road and into the ditch. The car rolled over once, striking a culvert and a fence, according to police reports.

A passer-by reported the accident at 6:15 a.m. Police said the driver’s father accompanied her to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor where she was pronounced dead. Officials expect to release the name of the deceased as soon as family members can be notified.

Neither occupant was wearing a seat belt and it doesn’t appear that speed was a factor, Johnston said. State police, Penobscot County sheriffs’ deputies, Old Town Ambulance and Rescue and the Milford Fire Department responded.