Accidents keep police busy in Lincoln Lake area

ENFIELD – A Vermont woman suffered internal injuries when the Chevy sedan she was driving collided with a Dodge pickup truck at Routes 2 and 155 late Thursday, state police said Friday.

Joanne Stetson, 66, of Enosburg Falls, Vt., was in fair condition at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor after being taken there from Penobscot Valley Hospital in Lincoln, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Stetson was on Route 155 crossing the intersection when the collision with the Dodge, driven by Winston Kronkheit, 24, of Passadumkeag, occurred at about 8:45 p.m., Trooper Jarod Stedman said.

Kronkheit and his passenger were unhurt, but Stetson and her passenger were. Stetson’s passenger, whose name was not immediately available, was treated and released from PVHS.

The accident, Stetson said, seemed to occur because the Chevy was screened by two other vehicles at the intersection. Kronkheit, who was heading south on Route 2, apparently swerved to miss one vehicle and could not avoid the sedan.

“It looks like everybody was wearing their seat belts,” Stedman said Friday.

Stedman’s investigation is ongoing, but it appears unlikely that any drivers will be cited for their roles in the accident, he said, although Kronkheit might face unrelated motor vehicle infractions.

The accident was among several in recent days in and near the Lincoln Lakes region, which includes Lincoln, Lee, Enfield, Howland and Chester.

A Springfield man suffered burns to more than 50 percent of his body Saturday night when the pickup truck in which he was riding went off Route 168 in Lee, spun into woods and exploded, Stedman said.

Steve Krapf Jr., 19, of Springfield is being treated at Massachusetts General Hospital after being flown there by LifeFlight helicopter, Stedman and a MGH spokesman said Friday. His condition was not immediately available.

The driver of the pickup truck, Brandon King of Winn, told investigators that the accident occurred because he swerved to avoid a deer. The explosion was so powerful that passers-by reported it to dispatchers and the Lee Volunteer Fire Department as a woods fire.

In Lincoln, Rusty Olenburgh, 84, suffered injuries serious enough to warrant his being transferred from PVHS to EMMC when his Ford Ranger veered off Route 2 and into a ditch on Monday.

A Massachusetts man, Christopher Parent of Middleborough, suffered minor head injuries when he fell off an ATV on North Road in Lee on Saturday, sheriffs said.

Details on another Enfield accident on Friday morning were not immediately available.

Stedman was mystified by the sudden rush of accidents.

“It’s one of those things,” he said. “I don’t know if everybody’s trying to get somewhere at the end of the summer or what, but people need to slow down and be more aware of their surroundings.”