Two vehicles demolished in head-on collision

Police say driver inattention was to blame for an accident in Hampden shortly after noon Tuesday that demolished two vehicles but caused only minor injuries to the drivers involved.

According to Sgt. Scott Webber of the Hampden Police Department, a silver 1992 Pontiac Grand Prix was parked at the gas pump at Rawcliff’s Mobil station at the corner of Route 1A and Kennebec Road. The Grand Prix owner, Lori Gallison, 45, of Alton, was belted in behind the wheel. A silver Chevrolet sport utility vehicle owned by J.M. Brown Construction of Hampden and driven by Herbert Jordan, 42, of Winterport approached from the south, veered off the road and struck Gallison’s car head-on, Webber said.

The speed limit in the area is 25 mph and Jordan was not speeding, Webber said, but the impact was severe enough that both vehicles were demolished.

When officer Joshua Gunn of the Hampden Police Department went to the scene, Gallison was complaining of chest pain from the force of her air bag deploying and from the seat belt she was wearing, Webber said. Jordan complained of hand and wrist pain. A Hampden ambulance crew also went to the scene, Webber said, but both drivers declined to be taken for medical evaluation. No charges were filed. (Meg Haskell, BDN)

A mother and her infant daughter escaped serious injury Tuesday evening in a two-vehicle accident at the corner of Routes 9 and 69 in Newburgh, but the driver of the other vehicle was still being evaluated at a Bangor hospital Tuesday evening.

According to Deputy James Kennedy of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office, Leslie Denton, 34, of Mount Desert was traveling east on Route 9 and failed to see an oncoming vehicle driven by Linda Hickman, 55, of Unity. When Denton turned left onto Route 69, she struck the front driver’s side of Hickman’s car, Kennedy said. Both cars were demolished. The accident happened shortly after 5 p.m.

Denton and her 19-month-old daughter, who was secured in a car seat, were treated for minor injuries at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor and then released. A supervisor at the hospital said Hickman was in stable condition and still being evaluated in the emergency department at 8:45 p.m.

Emergency crews from Newburgh, Dixmont and Hermon were called to the accident. (Meg Haskell, BDN)