LINCOLN, Maine — The bucket on a backhoe came close to seriously injuring an Enfield man when the box truck he was driving accidentally rear-ended the backhoe on Tuesday on West Broadway, officials said.
Firefighters used the Jaws of Life device to cut away enough of the cab of the 2014 Chevy Express to rescue Waldo Archer after the crash was reported about 6:15 a.m., said Detective Mark Fucile, the Lincoln Police Department’s spokesman.
Freeing Archer took about 30 minutes, Lincoln Fire Capt. Kenneth Goslin said. Firefighters covered Archer with blankets to keep him warm and protect him from any glass that might have been flung during the cutting.
The 47-year-old Archer complained of pain in his left side, and he was taken by Lincoln Fire Department ambulance to Penobscot Valley Hospital.
A hospital spokeswoman said she could not release information on Archer’s condition.
Fucile said the accident occurred because the truck’s brakes gave out when the backhoe stopped in front of the truck near 256 West Broadway.
The amount of damage done to the truck was considerable, Goslin said.
“When I showed up, I thought it might have been [a] fatality because of the amount of damage done. From my point of view, it didn’t look like there was a cab left,” Goslin said Tuesday. “The back of that bucket had gone over the hood and gone right into the windshield and crushed it all inwards.”
The backhoe driver, Eugene Graham, 68, of Lincoln, was not injured, Fucile said.