Maine State Police were trying to determine Sunday night who was driving a car that witnesses say was traveling at speeds of more than 100 mph before it crashed into the rear of a pickup truck, causing the truck to roll over on the Maine Turnpike in Biddeford.
State Trooper Anthony Keim said the driver of the pickup – Stephen Pacific, 50, of Marlborough, Massachusetts – did not need to be hospitalized, but his dog was ejected from the truck by the force of the collision. Keim said the dog was limping when he arrived, but did not appear to have sustained any serious injuries.
But the occupants of the car, a 2009 Mitsubishi Eclipse, were injured and had to be transported to the hospital.
Keim said one of the occupants – a 27-year-old woman from Oxford County – told him she was driving the car. But Keim said witnesses told him they believe the driver was the other person in the car, a 39-year-old man, also from Oxford County.
Witnesses told state police that the Eclipse was weaving in and out of traffic, passing cars in the breakdown lane, and traveling at a high speed when it struck the pickup truck around 2 p.m. Sunday in the southbound lanes of the turnpike near mile marker 32 in Biddeford.
Debris was strewn all over the road and Keim said traffic was delayed for about 90 minutes. The Eclipse was destroyed.
Charges won’t be filed until state police can figure out who was driving the car, Keim said.
He said state police are reaching out on Facebook to see if there are any other witnesses to the collision.
Witnesses or anyone with information about the driver of the passenger car should call the Maine State Police at 624-7076.
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