SOUTH PORTLAND — A South Portland police officer has been released from the hospital after being injured after his cruiser was rear-ended on Casco Bay Bridge by what police say was a distracted driver.
The bridge was closed for four hours following the crash at 10:30 a.m. but is now open.
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Rocco Navarro, 28, who has been on the force for four years, was sitting in his parked cruiser behind a disabled car in the passing lane of the bridge headed into Portland when his cruiser was hit from behind by a 2010 Chevrolet pickup. He had been contacting a tow truck.
The truck slammed into the cruiser and drove it into the median, crumpling the roof and crushing the trunk, said Police Chief Ed Googins.
“This could have just as easily been a fatal crash and it was driver inattention that was the primary cause based on our investigation and witnesses statements thus far,” Googins said.
Police say David Zografos, 40, of South Portland was talking on his cell phone and apparently did not see the cruiser or its blue emergency lights. He was cited for failure to maintain control of a vehicle, though the crash remains under investigation.
Zografos and the driver of the disabled 2003 Kia, Zaki Hasson, 22 of Portland, were not injured, Googins said. Googins did not know Navarro’s precise injuries or how long he would be out of work.
12:01 p.m.
South Portland police say one of its cruisers was involved in a collision at 10:45 a.m. No other new details were released.
11:37 a.m.
SOUTH PORTLAND — One person was transported to the hospital following a two-vehicle accident on the bridge, according to the South Portland dispatch center. No further details were immediately available about the victim.
The crash is now being reconstructed.
11:22 a.m.
SOUTH PORTLAND — An accident has shut down traffic on the northbound lanes of the Casco Bay Bridge.
Police say Portland-bound lanes will be closed for an undetermined period of time.
Traffic was backed up before 11 a.m. this morning.
Motorists backed their vehicles off the bridge at the request of police. Traffic is jammed around the base of the bridge.
Traffic is still flowing from Portland to South Portland.
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