MADAWASKA LAKE, Maine — Barring any new information, the case involving a jug of orange-flavored drink that crashed through the windshield of a moving vehicle in Aroostook County last week is closed, according to police.
Patrick Chasse, 86, was traveling north on Route 161 near Madawaska Lake with his wife, Alice Chasse, no age given, in a 2010 Ford Escape just after 7 p.m. Sept. 21 when the one-gallon plastic jug of orange-flavored drink flew through the front windshield, Maine State Police Trooper Chuck Michaud said last week. The jug flew through the vehicle and broke through the rear window, Michaud said.
The Frenchville couple were taken to Cary Medical Center in Caribou where they were treated primarily for cuts from shattered glass, he said.
State police investigating the freak accident had requested help from members of the driving public who may have witnessed the incident, but on Wednesday, Lt. Brian Harris, commander of the Houlton barracks, said no one had come forward.
“The investigation is closed unless new information arises,” he said.
At the time of the accident, Chasse was traveling in a 55 mph zone about 200 yards behind another northbound vehicle, but investigators were unable to determine whether the jug came from that car or from another car passing in the opposite direction.
Chasse told police he did not see the jug in the air before it hit his windshield. Damage to his SUV was estimated at $2,000.
Because Chasse was simply traveling down the road at the time, Harris said a police reconstruction — which involves speed, path of vehicles and points of impact — to determine the cause of the accident was not done.
“Since the car [was] just driving down the road, there is nothing to reconstruct since we know what happened,” he said. “We know what the container was and how the accident occurred [we] just don’t know where it came from.”
