CARMEL, Maine — Police suspect alcohol was a factor in an ATV accident that killed a Carmel woman and left her husband seriously injured Friday evening, according to officials.
Joyce Girt, 58, was found dead and her husband, Robert Girt, 67, was pinned underneath his four-wheeler when Etna Fire and Rescue personnel responded at about 8:30 p.m. to a report of an ATV accident on Deer Run Lane, off Etna Pond Road, in Carmel, according to a news release from Maine Warden Service spokesman John MacDonald.
Joyce Girt’s body was found lying in a driveway next to her Arctic Cat four-wheeler, which was neither running nor in gear. Her body has been taken to Augusta for autopsy, but initial indications are that she suffered head injuries when she fell off the ATV.
Robert Girt complained of head, neck and leg pain, according to the release. He was initially taken by LifeFlight to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and was then transferred to Maine Medical Center in Portland.
Officials suspect alcohol was a factor in the accident, which was not witnessed, but the incident remains under investigation.
“The circumstances are rare for sure,” MacDonald said via email Saturday morning. “Interviews are ongoing to help determine the cause of this incident.”
Wardens Jim Fahey, David Georgia, and Sergeant Ralph Hosford were assisted by Penobscot County Sheriff’s Deputy Noel Santiago and members of Etna Fire and Rescue.
correction, a member of Etna assisted Carmel Ambulance and Fire Department. An ambulance from Hermon assisted as well. Etna Fire set up an landing zone at Carmel Rec field .
A woman died, a man is left seriouly injured. When he recovers he will have to face the rest of his life without his wife. My thoughts and prayers go out to him and everyone in his family.
However somehow making sure this article is politically correct seems more important to you. Jerry Stanhope I think your correction and your insensitivity are disgusting.
I really don’t think the emergency service responders are as worried about getting credit in the comments section of this article as you may think. I think they are more concerned about the lives they save. However since you have made your correction, I hope your tiny ego is satisfied.
Since when is making a correction like that a matter of being “politically correct”, and why do you insult Jerry Stanhope for it?
Common sense is not very common, if you need to ask a question like that, you’ve proven my point… how sad …
No, answer the questions. If you can’t answer the first one, try the second.
You will probably not going to like the answers but here goes:
Answer #1 This article is about a tragic accident, not who responded to it. For that reason I think this is not the place for those kinds of corrections. I think EMS will get all the recognition they deserve at a more apropriate time, not at the scene of the accident. Read his so called correction it comes off as a sad attempt to give credit at the scene of the tradegy! That in my opinion is very insensitive. Thats my opinion you can agree with it or disagree with it it is up to you.
Question #2 Maybe the ego comment was an insult, at this point I care to think of it as being politically correct.
Thses are the answers you have asked for. For some reason I don’t think they are going to be good enough for you, but they are honest answers which I believe you could have picked up on by reading my 1 st response.
At this time I’m done with this topic and again my thoughts and prayers go out to the family involved with this tradegy.
R.I.P …..this is not the place to argue crapola.
I don’t think this comment is about credit. Hermon responded to Carmel for ALS (advanced life support), LifeFlight and members of the Etna department responded as well. I think saying which departments involved is important because it shows the support and willingness of the surrounding towns to help out when it is necessary. The actions of all parties collectively helped save a man and unfortunately couldn’t save his wife. It is a tragedy, and I send sincere sympathy to the family of these two individuals. I pray you find strength to get them through the following days.
The police should not report “suspected” alcohol use. Wait until you know for sure. It’s hard to take that back if it turns out not to be true.
Agree and does it relate if the person isn’t over 0.08? What if they had 4 cups of coffee, are they OUI? That’s over my limit. So if they had a beer or two, does that impact the accident, should it be reported?
Regardless of the correct reason for any accident-it seems that booze and speed are more exciting to the media than mechanical failure or an animal running in front of someone. Again, until the final accident report is out-it would just be respectful to the victims and their families if cause was reported at the end-not the beginning of an investigation.
I was outside and saw the chopper flying overhead. I figured it was a serious accident. There must have been some clues about alcohol for the police to mention it in the report. Don’t drink and drive, that goes for ATVers, too.
These are very dangerous machines and the State ought think about banning them. Between them and motorcycles it’s hard to tell which are worse.
It’s a sad day for the Girt family.
Actually more people die in canoes and kayaks than ATV’s. Although nobody ever mentions banning them when someone dies because of there use.
Why do you suppose that is?
My condolences to the families.
That’s an excellent point. Perhaps it’s because people paddling rarely get in the way of someone else.Every citizen owns the water ways. Paddlers are not on somone else’s property doing damage or driving down the side of a road illegaly.Most people operate ATVs in a responsible manner and never get hurt or cause a problem. We just hear about the bad stuff. As a matter of fact how many lives are saved by rescuers riding ATVs looking for lost sportsmen-Some are paddlers too.
Cars are very dangerous machines,lets ban them also!
It is ridiculous to ban something just because accidents happen. This is a tragic accident to say the least but not a reason to ban the vehicles.
You forgot snowmobiles to
I lost my brother in an ATV accident,I know the pain associated with this first hand.It was and always be a sad reminder when I read about ATV accidents.Not once will I blame the machine.They are built for outdoor enthusiasts.Accidents are part of life…Banning something doesn’t make the pain any less severe
This post is similar to knee jerk reactions to a single boating accident.. “Put speed limits everywhere!!!!!” is the usually idiotic call.. What about snowmobiles there pushtheredbutton?? double digit deaths every year! Then there’s the hiking deaths.. “Close off Acadia!!!!”……….do you really think we need this much government in our lives?
Too bad there’s not a common sense test for folks to be able to drive ATV’s , snowsleds and speedboats ! I think there a bunch more ATV accidents that we don;t hear about because the injuries aren’t severe enuf to report to the newspapers. Actually I was just speaking to a warden who had to investigate two atv accidents yesterday.
as I re read please excuse a few spelling errors… thank you
You are reading way too deeply into Jerry’s comment. You worked extremely hard to come to that false conclusion. That is truly a correction to the article.
Counting likes is a good way to tell when people don’t agree with you. Regardless of whether someone died or blueberries were picked. News should be FACTUAL, not pieced together with guessing and falsehoods.