PRINCETON – A 55-year-old Princeton man was injured Saturday when the all-terrain vehicle he was riding on the Stud Mill Road flipped over twice, tossing him to the ground.
Raymond Hatt and a friend, who was not identified by the Maine Warden Service, were riding their ATVs around 1:30 p.m. about a mile from South Princeton Road when the accident happened.
They were going only about 18 mph, Alan Curtis of the Maine Warden Service said Sunday. “They weren’t going very fast at all,” he said.
“They were slowing down to turn on a trail and [Hatt’s] brakes malfunctioned in the rear of the machine causing the rear wheels to lock up,” Curtis said. “If just the rear wheels lock up, especially on dirt, it is going to skid uncontrollably. And that is what happened. He skidded about 50 feet and then the machine kicked sideways, rolling over twice and throwing him off.”
The machine landed next to Curtis. “He was luckily thrown to the side so the ATV didn’t land on him,” the warden added.
Hatt was taken by Indian Township Ambulance to Calais Regional Hospital on Saturday suffering from multiple injuries, none life-threatening. Hospital officials declined Sunday to give a condition update on Hatt.
Curtis said there was not a lot of damage to the ATV, “just a couple of little scratches and a piece of plastic got separated but it can be screwed back in.”
Hatt’s friend drove the ATV back to Hatt’s house in Princeton.
The warden said there would be no charges.
“Something happened with the brakes on the machine. He’d just had it serviced and had not ridden for a while,” Curtis said.
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