Man hurt in I-95 crash listed in stable condition Police say 2 cars collided Sunday while racing

YORK – A Maine man showed signs of improvement Monday following the dramatic collision of two cars that sent one of them careening off a bridge on the Maine Turnpike, landing on a passenger who had been thrown from the other car.

The crash on Sunday slowed traffic for hours on the busy highway.

A Mustang and a BMW were racing when the vehicles collided as the BMW attempted to pass Sunday morning, state Trooper Michael Cook said.

A backseat passenger in the Mustang, Brett Halliday, was ejected when the car smashed into the guardrail, and he landed in a mudflat below the bridge, Cook said.

The BMW then crashed through the guardrail and ended up on top of the injured man, the trooper said.

“It looked like a stunt out of a movie,” said Janis Guethlen, who was traveling with her brother about two car lengths behind when the crash happened.

Joseph Soares of Taunton, Mass., was also traveling behind the two cars when the collision happened and was one of the first people on the scene.

Soares and two others lifted the car off Halliday’s leg and helped him move from underneath the BMW. The injured man was taken to the Portsmouth Regional Hospital in New Hampshire.

“If there is ever an example of God looking over somebody, this is it,” Soares said.

Halliday, 28, who was living in southern Maine, was initially listed as being in critical condition but by Monday he had been transferred to the Maine Medical Center in Portland, where his condition was upgraded to stable, Cook said Monday.

The two vehicles had been racing with the Mustang passing the BMW and the BMW trying to pass the Mustang when the vehicles collided, Cook said.

Three others were injured in the collision, which happened as the vehicles traveled in the northbound lanes of the Maine Turnpike in York.

The driver of the Mustang, Rebecca Knox, 25, of South Portland, was taken to the Portsmouth hospital, while another passenger was taken to York Hospital. The BMW’s driver, Michael Dempsey, 29, of Franklin, N.H., refused treatment.

No charges were filed as of Monday, but Cook said he would consult the district attorney’s office to determine what charges might be appropriate.