FRIENDSHIP, Maine — Police say speed is believed to have played a role in a car crash early Thursday that was so violent the engine was ripped from the vehicle and ended up in the middle of the road.
The driver, Joseph Solomon, 39, of Waldoboro, suffered broken bones and cuts and was flown by a LifeFlight helicopter to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. An update on his condition was not immediately available later Thursday morning.
Solomon was driving his 2009 Mazda four-door sedan on Cushing Road in Friendship shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday when, according to what he told police, he realized he was in the wrong lane and overcorrected, losing control of the vehicle.
The car crossed back into the northbound lane, onto a lawn and struck a large tree, spun around in the road and stopped in the driveway of the nearby residence, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The crash was violent enough to rip the engine from the car. First responders found it in the roadway a few feet from the vehicle.
Sgt. Patrick Polky and Deputy Paul Spear of the sheriff’s office responded to the crash, as did members of the Friendship Fire Department and Waldoboro ambulance service. The accident remains under investigation.