FAIRFIELD, Maine — A Waterville teenager is lucky to be alive after the car she was driving collided with a logging truck Wednesday morning, according to police.
Anna Clark, 18, was heading south on Route 201 in her Volkswagen Beetle when she drifted over the center line and struck the rear axle of a northbound truck driven by Gregory Stratton, 57, of Steuben, Fairfield police Officer Karen O’Donnell said.
Clark’s vehicle hit the rear axle of the truck’s trailer, O’Donnell said, and she was trapped in her Volkswagen, which was demolished.
“The angels were watching out for her,” O’Donnell said.
Stratton was heading toward the Warren paper mill in the Hinckley section of Fairfield when the collision occurred around 7:50 a.m., O’Donnell said. His rig was loaded with logs.
Clark had several broken bones but was talking at the scene, according to O’Donnell. She was taken by Delta Ambulance to Thayer Hospital in Waterville, where she underwent immediate surgery for her injuries.
A hospital spokeswoman said Thursday afternoon that Clark is listed in fair condition at the facility.
O’Donnell said indications are that Clark was not using her cellphone at the time of the crash.
“Her cellphone had to be removed from her pocket,” O’Donnell said.
Stratton was not injured in the crash, which shut down Route 201 for five hours while authorities cleaned up the scene and reconstructed the accident.
O’Donnell was assisted at the scene by Fairfield police Officers Matthew Wilcox and Spencer Grinnell, the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office and Fairfield Fire-Rescue.
Thank goodness she was fahrvergnügen when this happened.
Those VWs are some of the safest cars on the road.
I’d forgotten fahrvergnuegen (no idea how to make the umlaut, sorry) – thanks for the reminder – those were good commercials.
Thank you for all but nixing the “cell phone theory” in the article. Best wishes to her for a full and speedy recovery!
I didn’t realize that angels were assigned to that section of roadway. It’s never she was just “lucky”. It’s always angels and god. Geez.
I am not a religious person, but if someone wants to believe that Angels kept them safe, who are you (or I) to tell them otherwise? Oh, and the headline itself says she was lucky. They all know she was lucky. They just choose to believe that Angels had a hand in that luck.
No cell phone , perhaps makeup or radio or a mcmuffin !