A New Gloucester man suffered serious injuries early Tuesday morning when the truck he was driving veered off Route 3 in Liberty and crashed into utility poles and fuel pumps at a gas station, police said.
John Hespe, 60, was extricated from the truck and taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta by ambulance, according to a news release from the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office. MaineGeneral spokeswoman Joy McKenna said Hespe arrived at the hospital’s emergency department Tuesday morning but by the afternoon he was no longer there and she did not know his condition.
The accident was reported about 4 a.m. at a Circle K store and Irving gas station. Fire departments from Liberty, Montville, Palermo, Searsmont and Belmont responded and that area of Route 3 was shut down and traffic was rerouted. The damage to the utility poles knocked out power and phone service in the area.
Maine State Police sent a commercial vehicle investigator to the scene. Also responding were officials from the Department of Environmental Protection, Central Maine Power and Fairpoint Communications. A DEP spokesman could not be reached for comment Tuesday on the department’s response.
Hespe, who was driving a 2015 Isuzu box truck, suffered “significant” injuries from the accident, police said.
Chief Deputy Jason Trundy of the sheriff’s office said later Monday that investigators don’t know why the truck went off the road. He said the truck was carrying Bangor Daily News newspapers.
“I was told he was rushed into surgery, so until we talk to him we won’t be able to determine why” the truck went off the road, Trundy said. “Nothing at this point indicates any wrongdoing.”
A Rockland police sergeant was reconstructing the accident and a Waldo County sheriff’s detective was investigating. Waldo County officials left the scene just before 2 p.m.
“I don’t think I’ve seen an accident where the fuel pumps were damaged as bad as that,” Trundy said. “It demolished both pumps.”
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