Pittsfield accident leaves 4 injured

PITTSFIELD – Four people were injured – two seriously – Monday night when a driver swerved into the path of a pickup truck to avoid a deer in the road.

The accident happened just after 5 p.m. on Peltoma Avenue, east of the Village Cemetery, on a straight stretch of road that has a 45 mph speed limit.

Injured were Mark Curtis, 22, the driver of the 1992 Ford pickup truck, and his passenger, Morgan McClure, 20, both of Pittsfield. Curtis suffered a severe leg laceration and McClure had chest, ankle and head injuries. Injured in the 2000 Dodge Intrepid were the driver, Heather Johnston, 35, and her passenger, John Braley, 44, both of Waterville.

All four were taken by local ambulances to Sebasticook Valley Hospital for treatment.

Braley was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown into the car’s back seat, according to Pittsfield Officer Jeff Vanadestine. Braley suffered facial injuries. Johnston was pinned beneath the steering wheel and had multiple injuries.

“None of the injuries, although very serious, were life-threatening,” said Vanadestine.

Both Johnston and Braley told Vanadestine that they spotted a deer walking into the road and Johnston swerved to avoid it.

The vehicles crashed head-on in the eastbound lane. The impact was so great that the pickup truck frame buckled, sending the bed of the truck upward at a 45-degree angle. When the truck was being loaded onto a flatbed wrecker, the vehicles remained entangled with the car’s hood implanted into the truck’s engine compartment. Firefighters cut them apart.

Answering a police call from Norridgewock, Maine State Police Trooper Bernard Brunette was traveling toward Pittsfield on Peltoma Avenue from his Detroit home when he witnessed the crash. “I was running with lights and sirens, and I saw the car swerve and then the headlights of the truck disappeared,” he said.

Air bags deployed in the Dodge and Vanadestine said the driver was wearing her seat belt. The truck did not have air bags, and the officer said it had not been determined if the occupants were wearing seat belts.

Pittsfield Fire Department, Newport Rescue with its extrication tools, Clinton Rescue, Sebasticook Valley Hospital Ambulance, Hartland-St. Albans Ambulance and Corinna Ambulance all went to the scene.