TRENTON, Maine — Four people were taken to hospitals Wednesday morning after the vehicles they were riding in collided head-on on Route 3, according to police.
A man and a baby were in a white 2004 Chevrolet sedan heading north toward Ellsworth when it drifted into the southbound lane and then collided with a 2004 Dodge pickup truck that was headed toward Mount Desert Island, according to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department. The pickup, which had a driver and a passenger, was towing a tractor in a trailer, sheriff’s deputies said at the scene.
The driver of the Chevrolet, Michael Corbin, 21, of Bar Harbor, had to be extricated from the car by emergency personnel. He was taken to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth and then by ambulance to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor with “serious injuries,” the Sheriff’s Department later indicated in a prepared statement.
The infant, a 5-month-old boy, and the two occupants of the truck — Jonathan “Mark” Nyborg, 62, of Sullivan and Rebecca Merchant, 49, of Hancock — also were taken to the Ellsworth hospital.
It was unclear around midday Wednesday to what extent they may have been injured in the collision, but whatever injuries they may have suffered are believed to be less serious than Corbin’s. The infant was strapped into a child safety seat and the people in the truck both were wearing seat belts, police indicated.
Information about whether Corbin was wearing a seat belt was unavailable.
Both vehicles were demolished in the crash, the Sheriff’s Department indicated. The tractor and the trailer it was on appeared to be in good shape.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, deputies said.
A man whose business is located next to where the accident occurred said he heard the collision and ran out right away to help.
Matthew Schneider, owner of Unique Antiques, said the driver of the car was dazed and that he and others who stopped to help did not know for several minutes that there was a baby in the car with the driver. As soon as they realized it, they found and unstrapped the infant from its car seat and removed it from the damaged vehicle.
The baby seemed to be OK, Schneider said.
“The car seat did exactly what it was supposed to do,” he added.
Schneider said that accidents frequently happen along the section of road in front of his property. In the past 24 months, three utility poles along his road frontage have been struck by vehicles a total of five times, he said. The car in one of those accidents also took out the sign in front of his business.
“The speed [of vehicles] on this road is insane,” Schneider said, adding that he wasn’t sure that speed was a factor in Wednesday’s accident. “It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Route 3 was closed to traffic for more than two hours while emergency response personnel dealt with the injured passengers and vehicles. All traffic headed between Ellsworth and Mount Desert Island was rerouted along Route 230.
Route 3 was reopened to traffic at 10 a.m.
Officers with Bar Harbor, Mount Desert and Maine State Police departments assisted the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department at the scene, as did firefighters from Ellsworth, Lamoine, Mount Desert and Trenton.
