ROCKPORT, Maine — Five people, including three children, were injured Thursday evening when a car went off the road and flipped completely “head over head” before landing back on its wheels in the woods.
Police said the driver likely will be charged, although no charges had been filed against her as of late Friday morning.
The Jeep sports utility vehicle was heading south on Route 1 when police received a report shortly after 7:30 p.m. that it was driving erratically, according to Rockport police Officer Cooper Plaisted. The caller notified police a few moments later that the vehicle had crashed near the Offshore Restaurant.
The Jeep had veered to the right, struck a guardrail and then crossed the center line and hit the opposing guardrail, flipping “head over head” before landing on its wheels in the woods, according to Plaisted.
The officer said the driver and all four passengers were taken to nearby Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport. The children were in safety seats or wearing seat belts and their injuries were minor, the officer said. The person most seriously injured was driver Amanda Rankin, 27, of Camden, who suffered injuries to her arm and head.
Her condition on Friday morning was not immediately available.
The officer said he believes drugs were a factor in the crash.
Rockland emergency medical personnel assisted Northeast Ambulance members in responding to the crash. Members of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office also assisted Rockport police.
After the family members were taken to the hospital, Benjamin Rankin, 26, of Camden, who had been a passenger in the vehicle, left the hospital with a baby who had been in the vehicle before the baby could be checked by medical staff, according to police.
Police located Rankin near a convenience store, and he resisted returning the child to the hospital, according to an affidavit filed Friday by Rockport police in Knox County Unified Court. Once officers did get him and the baby back to the hospital, they learned that Rankin was on probation and that one of the conditions of his release was that he submit to a drug test whenever requested by law enforcement, according to the affidavit.
Police said Rankin refused to cooperate and began yelling in the hospital. They arrested and charged him with disorderly conduct.
He made his initial court appearance on that charge Friday afternoon when Judge Susan Sparaco set bail at $750 cash. Rankin, however, remained held in jail at the request of his probation officer.