MECHANIC FALLS, Maine — At least four people remain hospitalized following a deadly hayride crash in Mechanic Falls on Saturday night.
State police say a Jeep hauling a trailer with at least two dozen people in it went off the trail and into nearby trees during Harvest Hill Farm’s Gauntlet Haunted Hayride.
Cassidy Charette, 17, of Oakland, died in the crash, and at least 22 others were injured. One of them, 16-year-old Connor Garland, is now at Boston Children’s Hospital with jaw and back injuries. At last check, he was listed in fair condition.
As of early Monday morning, Central Maine Medical Center still had three patients, all listed in stable condition. The driver of the Jeep, David Brown, 54, of South Paris, has been released from the hospital. State police said injuries range from cuts and bruises to broken legs, arms and backs to head wounds.
Witnesses said the passengers on the trailer were mostly teenage girls. The witnesses saw the trailer being hooked up to the Jeep and just minutes later, it was racing down a hill, out of control.
Sgt. Joel Davis of the state fire marshal’s office said the driver appeared unable to stop the vehicle. “It appears there was a mechanical issue and the vehicle could not stop. The operator attempted to stop the vehicle, but could not. That’s when it left the roadway,” Davis said.
The Jeep hit a tree, sending passengers flying off the trailer into the woods. Mike Willett and Don Poisson were on the hayride behind the one that crashed. They saw the crash and ran to help. “We took off down over the hill once we got there. It was complete chaos out in the woods,” said Willett.
“There was just people everywhere on the ground bleeding, people coming out of the woods, couldn’t walk. And we just tried to help them out as best we could,” Poisson said.
Willett said he saw a young girl receiving CPR. That young girl was Cassidy Charette, a student at Messalonskee High School who died early Sunday morning at the hospital.
Scott Lansley, a spokesman for Harvest Hill Farm, told CBS 13, “This is hitting everyone very, very hard. It’s affecting us all. We all have kids. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families, especially the family of the teenage girl.”
Harvest Hill Farms operates the Gauntlet Haunted Hayride. Lansley said most of the hayrides are pulled by tractors, but this one was hauled by a 1979 Jeep CJ5. When CBS 13 asked why, Lansley said, “I don’t know. You’re the one who told me state police said it was a Jeep. I’m not exactly certain why.”
The Jeep is now at a secure facility and is the focus of the investigation. State police said they will go over every inch of the vehicle to see if there was in fact a mechanical issue. “We will be doing a complete vehicle autopsy to see if there were any mechanical defects,” Davis said.
Haunted hayrides are not licensed by the state of Maine, so there are no regulations or required inspections.