November 22, 2024
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DOT worker killed in collision Driver: Logging rig tipped over on curve

KOSSUTH TOWNSHIP – A Grand Lake Stream man was killed and two others injured when a Maine Department of Transportation dump truck collided with a fully loaded logging truck on Route 6 Monday morning, Maine State Police said.

LifeFlight helicopter paramedics who had landed to take the victim to a Bangor hospital pronounced dump truck driver Jarrod Damon, 35, dead of severe injuries. Damon’s wife arrived at the scene shortly after the accident.

Another DOT employee, Gregory Scott, 43, of Danforth, was taken by ambulance to Penobscot Valley Hospital in Lincoln and released after being treated, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The logging truck’s driver, Kenneth G. Slauenwhite, 56, of Island Falls, told investigators that he was heading east toward Calais when he lost control of his rig while negotiating a sharp curve at about 9:10 a.m. The tractor’s trailer tipped over, crossed the westbound lane and hit the DOT truck head-on, state police said.

Slauenwhite suffered minor injuries and was treated at PVHS and released, a spokeswoman said.

The flatbed of the logging truck and the tree-size logs were spread across both lanes of Route 6, which was shut down for several hours for at least five miles in both directions of the accident scene.

The cab of the dump truck was heavily damaged and came to rest against a utility pole that was cracked and nearly broken in two. Logs were scattered around and atop it. Skid marks longer than 30 feet were visible on the road.

State police Lt. Christopher Coleman of Troop J, who is leading the investigation, said an accident reconstructionist from Troop F probably would have the road closed for several hours. He said he did not know the destination of the vehicles or how fast they were traveling when the accident occurred.

Kossuth Township is about 30 miles east of Lincoln on Route 6, just inside Washington County.


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