WATERVILLE — One person died Wednesday afternoon following a crash on West River Road involving a half-size dump truck and a Toyota Corolla sedan, officials said.
The crash, reported at about 2:30 p.m., occurred at the intersection of West River Road and Trafton Road, according to police.
While at the scene of the crash, Chief William Bonney of the Waterville Police Department confirmed a person had died.
Waterville police Maj. Jason Longley said later in a telephone interview that a woman had suffered significant injuries in the crash and was taken to Northern Light Inland Hospital in Waterville.
“The incident is still under investigation and further details will be available at a later date,” Longley said.
The area around the crash was blocked to traffic as Waterville police and fire officials and the Maine State Police worked the scene.
The dump truck was on its right side on the east side of West River Road, while the Toyota was upright just north of it, also on the east side of the road, its hood open. Part of its roof appeared to be torn apart.
A firefighter works Wednesday afternoon at the scene of a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of West River Road and Trafton Road in Waterville. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
The initial emergency dispatch reported two people had been ejected in the crash.
Several men who were putting a roof on a new building Wednesday afternoon at the corner of Trafton Road and West River Road said in interviews they had witnessed the crash and called 911 immediately.
Roofers Steve Trask and Adam Willis said the dump truck was southbound on West River Road, and a vehicle had exited Trafton Road and then headed north on West River Road. The Toyota, which had been behind the vehicle on Trafton Road, then attempted to exit the road and turn onto West River Road, when it collided with the dump truck, the men said.
Trask said it appeared the driver of the truck tried to veer out in front of the Toyota, but the car pulled out.
Emergency workers respond Wednesday afternoon to a two-vehicle crash that blocked traffic at the intersection of West River Road and Trafton Road in Waterville. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
“She was T-boned badly, and how he ended up where he was, I’m not sure,” Trask said of the truck driver. “I had everybody calling 911. I checked on him to see if he was alive. He wasn’t.”
Willis said he rushed to aid the woman who had been driving the car, and it appeared she had a broken arm. She was screaming in pain, he said.
“I was trying to keep her calm to make sure she wouldn’t move her arm, which was twisted,” Willis said.
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