RUMFORD — A local woman was injured in a three-vehicle accident Tuesday afternoon at the top of Falls Hill on Route 2.
Driver Debra Mawhinney, 48, was taken by Med-Care Ambulance to Rumford Hospital with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries, Sgt. Tracey Higley said.
She was treated and released, a nursing supervisor said.
Mawhinney’s 4-year-old grandson, who was secure in a child seat in the back seat, was shaken up but uninjured, Higley said.
Two other drivers, Victor Perry, 55, and Shawn York, 37, both of Rumford, were not injured, he said.
The accident happened at about 2:15 p.m. as all three drivers were headed east.
Higley said two construction workers at the Central Maine Power Co. substation atop Falls Hill were trying to flag oncoming traffic to a stop so a fellow worker could back equipment out of the job site and onto the highway.
He said Mawhinney, who was driving a 2008 Chevrolet Trail Blazer, began braking, as did Perry, who was behind her in a 1999 Chevrolet Malibu.
York, who was in a 1999 GMC Yukon, told Higley he saw both vehicles braking ahead of him and also tried to slow down but was unable to stop.
York “claimed it was due to a mechanical failure,” Higley said.
The Yukon shoved in the rear of the Malibu and jammed the Malibu’s front end into and under the bumper of the Trail Blazer, Higley said.
Three-lane traffic was reduced to one lane while Brad Adley, owner of nearby Adley’s Auto Sales, hauled each vehicle away.
Adley estimated damage to the Yukon at between $5,000 and $6,000; to the totaled Malibu at $2,000 to $3,000; and $2,500 to the Trail Blazer.
Rumford firefighters cleared debris from the scene and applied Speedy Dry to vehicle fluids leaking onto the highway.
Rumford police officer Brock Clukey and Maine State Police Trooper Kyle Tilsley directed heavy traffic.
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- Victor Perry, 55, of Rumford, looks at his totaled 1999 Chevrolet Malibu that was crushed between two sport-utility vehicles on Tuesday afternoon in a three-vehicle accident atop Falls Hill on Route 2 in Rumford.
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- Rumford firefighters check to ensure that a 1999 GMC Yukon being pulled from a three-vehicle accident scene by Adley’s Auto Sales owner Brad Adley in a tow truck disengages from the 1999 Chevrolet Malibu ahead of it.
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- Rumford firefighters talk with Shawn York, 37, of Rumford, in the black 1999 GMC Yukon Tuesday afternoon atop Falls Hill on Route 2. The sport-utility vehicle shoved the 1999 Chevy Malibu at center into and under the rear bumper of a 2008 Chevy Trail Blazer at right. A crew inside the Med-Care Ambulance in back treats the driver of the Trail Blazer before taking her to Rumford Hospital.
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