September 21, 2024
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2 park visitors hurt in separate accidents

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK – Park rangers dealt with a pair of accidents here Thursday that sent two visitors to the hospital, both with injuries serious enough to transfer them to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

At about 6 p.m., 19-year-old Zachary Lutz was with a group of teenage friends on Long Pond in the Southwest Harbor part of the park when he climbed a tree overhanging the water, according to Park Ranger Kevin Cochary.

Lutz, whose address is unknown, climbed about 20 feet and attempted to jump into the pond from an overhanging branch, Cochary said.

Somehow the teen got tangled in a rope swing attached to the tree and ended up swinging back toward the rocky shore, the ranger said.

“He ended up on the rocks below and sustained a pretty severe head injury,” Cochary said.

Park rangers, members of the Southwest Harbor Fire Department, a Southwest Harbor ambulance crew and volunteers with MDI Search and Rescue all responded to the accident report.

Lutz was carried out on a litter about 400 yards before being transported by ambulance to Mount Desert Island Hospital. Cochary said Lutz was later flown by LifeFlight to EMMC. No information on his condition was available late Thursday.

Earlier Thursday afternoon, park rangers responded to a call about a private horse-drawn carriage overturning near the Jordan Pond Gate House.

Cochary said Brittany Yard, 19, of Frenchtown, N.J., was riding with a friend in a private horse-drawn carriage when they approached a gate along the carriage road in the park. He said the driver stepped down to open the gate and handed the reins over to Yard.

The two horses pulling the carriage got spooked for some reason, he said, and bolted across the road and across the lawn in front of the Jordan Pond Gatehouse. The carriage overturned, ejecting Yard, who landed on a foot-high stone wall.

Cochary said Yard injured her left shoulder, left elbow, left wrist and possibly her lower back. She was transported by ambulance to Mount Desert Island Hospital. She was later transferred to EMMC, where a nursing supervisor said at 11 p.m. that Yard was still being evaluated.


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