Head-on collision hurts 3 on Route 15

KENDUSKEAG – Three people were injured Tuesday afternoon in a head-on collision on Route 15 that sent both vehicles over an embankment and into a cornfield.

The collision threw the driver of an SUV into the passenger side of the vehicle where she pinned her 6-year-old daughter under her, Penobscot County Sheriff’s Deputy Jared Austin said Tuesday afternoon.

Rescue workers used extricating equipment to remove Nichole Hartley, 35, of Corinth and her daughter, Kassandra Hartley, from the heavily damaged 2003 Jeep Liberty.

Both were taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor where a hospital nursing supervisor later reported there was no information about their conditions. Austin said the mother suffered the brunt of the injuries, while the daughter suffered minor abrasions.

The other driver, Lloyd Nickerson, 46, of Corinth was also taken to EMMC, where he was still being evaluated at about 6 p.m., three hours after the accident.

Nichole Hartley told authorities she didn’t recall what happened, but Austin said Nickerson and a witness reported that Hartley lost control of the SUV in slushy conditions and veered into the path of Nickerson’s 2002 GMC full-sized pickup truck.

Both vehicles went off the road, down an embankment and into a field owned by Tom Davis, a dairy farmer and Penobscot County commissioner.

All three were wearing seat belts, Austin said, and the air bags in the vehicles deployed.

Part of Route 15 was shut down briefly to allow the removal of the vehicles and traffic was reduced to one lane during the investigation, Austin said.