KENDUSKEAG – Emergency crews heard reports of people with multiple head and neck injuries before they arrived at the scene of a two-car crash Thursday morning in front of Butler’s Variety. All five people in the two vehicles involved were taken to the hospital.

None of the injuries was serious, however, and all five were treated and released.

Both cars were traveling south on Route 15 when the crash occurred, according to Sgt. Keith Mercier of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department.

The first car, operated by Kevin Frost, 44, of Levant, was trying to stop in traffic and turn into the parking area for Butler’s Variety.

Apparently the sun got into the eyes of Madison Henderson, 80, of Corinth, who was driving the second car, a red Saturn, and he ran into the rear end of the first car, Mercier said.

Store clerk Kerri Thayer reported the emergency just before 9 a.m. after hearing the crash and seeing “three occupants [of the first car] all holding their heads,” she said.

“Three of the five were in the store when I got here,” Assistance Fire Chief Tom Porter of Kenduskeag Fire Department said from the store’s parking lot. “We transported five to the hospital. I’m not sure of the extent of their injuries.”

Frost and his passengers, Bobby Harvey and Angela Mantha, ages and hometowns unknown, along with Henderson and his passenger, Margarette Fimonds, age unknown, of Corinth, were taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

Fimonds was uninjured, Mercier said.

“Madison Henderson had chest pains,” he said. “He’s handicapped and on oxygen, and the impact and seat belt hurt his chest. The other three had head and neck injuries.”

The rear bumper of Frost’s car, a gray Mitsubishi, was dented by the crash. Henderson’s Saturn had little visible damage to its front end. Both vehicles remained in the store’s parking lot after emergency crews left.

The hill and angle of the roadway in front of the store have led to other accidents in the area because of the blinding sun, Thayer said.

“People need to be more cautious pulling in and out of here,” the clerk said.