NEW VINEYARD — A 57-year-old Farmington man was killed in an accident on Route 27 Friday morning after his van crossed the center line and collided head-on with a tractor-trailer, police said.
William Ellsworth was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, about one mile north of the Farmington town line, said Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, Daniel French, 29, of Alfred, was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital where he was treated for minor injuries and released, he said.
The van, a 1999 Plymouth Voyager, was destroyed and the tractor-trailer sustained between $15,000 and $20,000 worth of damage, said Nichols. He said the truck was traveling north toward Kingfield, where it was scheduled to pick up water from Poland Spring when the accident was reported at around 9:15 a.m. Nichols said he was not sure where Ellsworth was going or coming from. He said he was wearing a seat belt and did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation, but Nichols said there were no skid marks on the road that would have indicated the driver swerved to avoid the truck.
There were no passengers in the van, he said.
Nichols said the rain did not appear to have been a factor in the accident.
The Maine State Police, Farmington Fire Department and New Vineyard Fire Department responded, as well as the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, which was called to clean up a diesel oil spill from the truck.
Traffic on Route 27 was closed for most of the morning and Nichols said he expected the road to reopen at around 2 p.m.
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