STOCKTON SPRINGS, Maine — State police released more details Tuesday about a three-vehicle accident on U.S. Route 1 Monday afternoon that claimed the life of a 79-year-old Orland man and injured two others.
Jacob Smith, 29, of Ellsworth was driving a Chevy Trailblazer north on the coastal thoroughfare at about 3:40 p.m. when the accident occurred, according to a news release issued Tuesday afternoon by Lt. Aaron Hayden of Maine State Police Troop D.
Smith did not notice that the car ahead of him, a Toyota Corolla, had slowed to turn onto Muskrat Farm Road, Hayden said. Smith’s Chevy Trailblazer hit the Corolla, driven by 63-year-old Marcia Evans of Stockton Springs, then careened into the opposite lane of traffic.
There, the Trailblazer struck a Hyundai Elantra driven by Philip Grindle, who was pronounced dead at the scene, Hayden said.
Evans and Smith were taken to Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast, where they were treated and released, Trooper Benjamin Sweeney said Tuesday afternoon.
State police reconstruction teams responded to the scene, and the accident remains under investigation, according to Hayden.
Route 1 remained closed for several hours after the crash.