HERMON, Maine — Twin sisters and a Milo man were taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center late Monday morning after a pickup and SUV collided at the intersection of Route 2 and Annis Road in Hermon.
Police say Donald Merrill, 76, of Milo was attempting to turn his black pickup truck left onto Route 2 from Annis Road at about 11:30 a.m., but he apparently pulled out in front of an SUV traveling west on Route 2, Sgt. James Kennedy of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department said on scene as crews cleaned up the wreck.
Melinda Walton, 51, of Carmel was driving the SUV with her twin sister, Melanie Berberoglu of Etna, in the passenger seat, Kennedy said. The SUV struck the driver’s side of the pickup, spinning it around until it came to rest against a utility pole at the opposite side of the intersection. The SUV stopped in the middle of a nearby yard.
Kennedy said he would be trying to determine whether Merrill stopped at the stop sign on Annis Road.
Merrill complained of a leg or hip injury. Both sisters complained of neck and head pain. None of the injuries appeared to be life threatening, according to Kennedy.
Several residents and passers-by stopped to help the victims until emergency crews arrived.
Stephen Woodard, who was visiting his sister’s house on Klatt Road, heard a “tremendous crash” that “knocked him off the couch,” he said. He ran out to find Merrill hanging partially out the driver’s side window but alert and talking.
Kennedy said he doesn’t believe Merrill was wearing a seatbelt.
A rescue crew from Bangor assisted Hermon fire and ambulance crews Monday by taking Berberoglu to the hospital.
Route 2 was closed for about an hour, but it reopened to traffic shortly before 12:30 p.m. after wreckage was removed.
The crash remains under investigation.