A Maine police lieutenant was critically injured in a two-vehicle head-on crash Monday afternoon, according to authorities.
The Buckfield Fire Department said in a social media post around 4:45 p.m. Monday that the Turner Fire Department responded to two major crashes in different areas of Turner Center Road. Traffic was reportedly seriously delayed or even at a standstill at times. Authorities said a medical helicopter was called to the scene of one of the crashes, and urged motorists to avoid the area.
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Both Turner and Buckfield are located just outside the Lewiston-Auburn area.
In a Facebook post Tuesday morning, Monmouth Police Chief Paul Ferland said that Montmouth Lt. Dana Wessling was involved in a head-on accident and was taken by medical helicopter to Maine Medical Center in Portland where he is in critical condition. The Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office said two others were injured in the same crash on Turner Center Road at Bradford Road.
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"Please keep Dana and his family in your thoughts and prayers," Ferland said. "I will update you further when I know more."
Several other Maine police and fire departments posted social media updates as well, offering thoughts and prayers for Wessling.
"Thinking of Lt Wessling of the Monmouth Police Department and his family after an accident earlier this evening. Keeping them in our thoughts and prayers and hoping for a full recovery," Waterville police said in a Facebook post.
The Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office said their preliminary investigation shows that Wessling, 52, of Turner, was driving west on Turner Center Road in his Monmouth police take-home cruiser at the time of the crash.
A Ford F-150 pickup truck driven by 41-year-old Sean McNeil, of Minot, was headed east on Turner Center Road. He came around a curve and crossed the center line and was in Wessling's lane when the two vehicles collided. Both vehicles sustained extensive damage and are considered totalled.
Wessling had to be extricated from his vehicle and was taken to a nearby landing zone for transport by helicopter, according to the sheriff's office. He had been on his way home from work and had just picked up his 7-year-old son at daycare when the crash occurred. His son was taken by a private vehicle to a local hospital as a precaution.
McNeil and his passenger, a 47-year-old woman from Turner, were taken by ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston with serious injuries but they are both expected to survive.
The crash investigation remains active and ongoing, the sheriff's office said.
