GREENE — A Massachusetts man was seriously injured Sunday morning after his snowmobile flipped end over end on Sabattus Pond in Greene.
Chadman Boardman, 38, of Hopedale, Mass., was listed in serious condition Sunday night at Maine Medical Center in Portland, where he was taken after the 10:30 a.m. crash. Deborah Turcotte, spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, reported in a press release that Boardman suffered a large gash to his head, a fractured skull and eye socket and broken vertebrae in his back and neck.
Boardman’s friends said he was one last ride away from loading up and heading home to Massachusetts from a camp on Sawyer Road in Greene, where he was staying with friends, when the accident occurred. According to Turcotte, the friends told Maine Warden Service investigators that he took his snowmobile out for a final spin before loading it onto a trailer to head home.
Game Warden Rick Stone said that two of Boardman’s friends told authorities that he was traveling up the lake at about 60 to 70 mph when they saw a large cloud of snow and heard the machine stop about 200 yards offshore.
“The conditions on the lake aren’t very good for snowmobiling due to the slushy ice and snow,” Stone said. “It appears that the snowmobile’s front end had broken through the slush causing it to flip end over end.”
Stone said that speed was a factor in the accident. Also, Boardman was not wearing a helmet.
Turcotte reported that the snowmobile, a 2006 Yamaha, went airborne approximately 30 to 35 feet before coming to rest upright on top of Boardman’s waist and legs. Boardman was not moving or talking when friends arrived on the scene, but eventually was able to communicate with them.
Bob Raymond, a witness to the crash who was on Sawyer Road and also went to help, told authorities that the group was able to lift the snowmobile off Boardman, who was laying in about a foot of slush and water.
Greene Fire and Rescue, United Ambulance and an Androscoggin County Sheriff’s deputy responded to the scene. Boardman was taken first to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston before being moved to Maine Medical Center in Portland.
Boardman’s snowmobile was considered a total loss. The incident remains under investigation.
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