ELLSWORTH – A loose tailgate on a dump truck caused rocks to spill out Friday along a 10-mile stretch of Route 3, hitting at least four vehicles, including one driven by a police chief.

Maine State Police Trooper Cliff Peterson said the truck, owned by Marcus Warren Trucking, was northbound on Route 3 when debris started escaping in Trenton and in Ellsworth.

The busy highway is the main link between Mount Desert Island and Ellsworth.

One of the vehicles damaged in the Friday morning incident was a pickup truck owned by Mount Desert Police Chief Jim Willis.

Willis said he was driving south on Route 3 in Ellsworth when he passed the northbound dump truck, then saw a large rock in the air coming toward him.

“I ducked down by the dashboard because I thought it was coming through the windshield,” Willis said.

The rock struck the hood of his truck and broke off the driver’s side mirror, causing about $250 in damage, he said.

“It broke into pieces after it hit,” Willis said of the rock. “It was large.”

Willis said he turned his truck around, caught up with the dump truck and stopped it on Myrick Street before Ellsworth police arrived.

Peterson said rocks that spilled from the truck also damaged two vehicles in Trenton. A Ford Taurus owned by Hertz Car Rental had its gas tank punctured and lost some transmission fluid when it hit some rocks lying on the road, he said. A Lincoln Continental also started leaking gasoline and oil after it hit rocks in the road, Peterson said.

No one was hurt in any of the vehicles, Peterson said.

Marcus Warren Trucking, based on Mount Desert Island, was summoned for operating a truck with an unsecured load.

Ellsworth police Officer Kelvin Mote said that besides Willis’ truck, another car in Ellsworth had about $200 in damage when it was hit by part of the dump truck’s dropped load.

Mote said the truck company was not charged by Ellsworth police.