Two injured in Palmyra car accident

PALMYRA – Two people were injured, one seriously, in a head-on crash late Friday on Route 2 in Palmyra, just west of the Ell Hill intersection.

Snow conditions and the possibility of alcohol use by both drivers are being blamed for the 7:30 p.m. crash.

Robert Chatto, 47, of Sedgwick was driving a 1984 GMC van westbound when he apparently began fishtailing.

Chatto’s van and a 1997 Mercury Mountaineer collided nearly head-on, Maine State Trooper Hugh Landry said, crushing the drivers’ sides of both vehicles.

The Mountaineer’s operator, Sharon McNally, 54, of Palmyra was trapped in her car for nearly half an hour while Pittsfield and Newport firefighters attempted to extricate her.

She suffered a dislocated hip and was taken to Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield and then transferred to Eastern Maine Medical Center for further treatment.

Chatto had both facial and internal injuries. He was also taken to SVH and then transferred to EMMC in serious condition. He was not wearing a seat belt, Landry said.

A passenger in Chatto’s car, James Ashman, 42, also of Sedgwick, and a passenger in McNally’s car, Ernest Chase, 33, of Palmyra, were unhurt.

Landry said no charges were lodged but the accident remains under investigation while police await the results of blood alcohol tests.

He said because of road conditions, it was impossible to tell where the two vehicles were when they struck each other.