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Two accidents occur on slippery Route 170

Posted Dec. 18, 2008, at 11:21 p.m.

BANGOR, Maine — A Kingman teenager and a man from Baileyville were injured in separate accidents Thursday that occurred about an hour apart and within about five miles of each other on Route 170, which was unsanded, icy and snow-packed at the time.

The first accident occurred about 4 p.m. in Macwahoc Plantation, according to state police Trooper Jennifer Fiske.

Charlene Peters, 17, was driving along Route 170, also known as Kingman Road, when she lost control of her vehicle at a curve and struck a utility pole. The driver’s side of the car struck the pole and Peters was pinned inside, Fiske said.

Lee firefighters had to use hydraulic extrication equipment to remove Peters from the wreckage. A LifeFlight helicopter airlifted her to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where she was undergoing treatment for pelvic, back, neck and leg injuries, the trooper said.

An hour later, another accident occurred in nearby Kingman when Roger Peterson, 54, lost control of his vehicle, also at a curve, and ended up in a ditch.

Some of the Lee firefighters who went to the scene of the first crash left that scene to help free Peterson from his vehicle, which got wedged so tightly in the ditch that he could not open the doors. The firefighters opened a back door and laid the seat out flat so he could wiggle out.

Peterson was taken by ambulance to Penobscot Valley Hospital in Lincoln, where he was treated for abdominal pain, Fiske said. His injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Fiske said both accident victims were wearing seat belts and neither had passengers.