Log rig crashes on Route 15 in Shirley Sangerville couple escape serious injury

SHIRLEY – A Sangerville couple escaped serious injury Thursday when the loaded tractor-trailer in which they were traveling on Route 15 landed in a ditch on its side.

Rick Walton, 48, the driver, was not injured in the 10:45 a.m. accident, but his passenger and wife, Mary Walton, 59, complained of pain and was taken by ambulance to the C.A. Dean Memorial Hospital. She was examined at the Greenville facility and later released.

Walton “came around a corner too fast” and lost control of the vehicle, Investigator Jamie Kane of the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department said Thursday.

The vehicle rolled onto its side into a ditch, spilling its load of tree-length logs.

The vehicle, a 1999 Freightliner owned by J&G Spack and Daughters Trucking of Milo, was demolished, Kane said. The vehicle was valued at $35,000.

Both Walton and his wife were wearing their seat belts, he said.

The accident remains under investigation and charges may be pending, Kane said.

Greenville and Shirley firefighters and C.A. Dean Memorial Ambulance personnel assisted Kane at the scene.