ELLSWORTH, Maine — A 61-year-old man survived a scary incident relatively unscathed when, after experiencing an apparent medical issue, his pickup truck crashed into the Union River at high speed on Thursday afternoon, according to police.
Charles Stratton of Ellsworth was driving downhill on Washington Street toward Water Street when the incident occurred just after 2 p.m., according to Ellsworth police Officer Chris Smith. The truck zoomed across Water Street, struck a signpost, kept going through the parking lot at the city’s public boat launch, hit a tree and another sign and then glanced off some boulders that made the truck flip as it sailed into the river at the boat launch, Smith said.
Stratton managed to open his door and get his head out of the water before good Samaritans who saw the crash went into the river and helped him get out of the vehicle, according to Smith.
On a video of the incident recorded by city security cameras, a man can be seen talking on a cellphone and running toward the boat ramp to help moments after the truck splashes into the water.
Smith said that Stratton had only minor cuts and scrapes from the incident. He was taken to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth after being pulled from the water but appears to be OK, Smith said.
“I talked to him,” the police officer said. “He seemed fine an hour after [the crash].”
Stratton’s 2011 Chevrolet Colorado truck, he added, was destroyed.
Smith said that Stratton and others are lucky that his truck did not cause more damage or hurt anybody when it careened out of control before going in the water.
“It’s amazing that nothing else happened,” Smith said.
