A Maine State Police trooper was hospitalized Friday after a tractor-trailer rammed into his cruiser on the Maine Turnpike in New Gloucester. He was being treated for multiple injuries that were described as not life-threatening.
The crash happened near the Auburn city line shortly after 5 a.m., said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. Trooper John Davis, who is a 17-year veteran of the state police and is assigned to the troop that patrols the turnpike, had responded to a report of two vehicles that slid off the road. McCausland said Davis was sitting in his Ford Explorer cruiser, parked in the breakdown lane with the emergency lights on at the time of the crash. The tractor-trailer hit the cruiser from behind, causing it to spin in the road and forcing it into the guardrail. When the cruiser came to rest on its side, Davis was pinned inside.
The northbound lanes of the turnpike between Gray and Auburn were closed for four hours Friday and reopened at 9 a.m.
Davis was treated at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. A nursing supervisor said late Friday night that she could not comment on his condition or say whether he was still at the hospital.
The driver of the tractor-trailer was identified as Aminder Munday, 28, of Westland, Michigan. Troopers cited Munday for imprudent speed and a log book violation.
The truck, owned by Michigan-based Northstar Carrier, was transporting food to the Walmart distribution center in Lewiston.
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