MECHANIC FALLS — Two teenagers died and two other young people were seriously injured when a car crashed Friday night on Elm Street near the Poland town line.
Adam Nile, 19, and Britney Lee Wentworth, 18, both of Poland, were killed in the one-vehicle accident, according to Maine State Police.
Nile was driving the car at the time of the crash and Wentworth was in the front passenger seat, Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said.
Two passengers in the back seat were taken to a Lewiston hospital, McCausland said. Zachary Sutton, 21, of South Paris was listed in critical condition at Central Maine Medical Center on Saturday night. Rodney Westleigh, 19, of Auburn was listed in stable condition.
The accident occurred around 9:30 p.m. Friday, when the car Nile was driving “went off the road and slid broadside into a set of trees,” hitting on the driver’s side, McCausland said.
On Saturday night, authorities speculated that excessive speed was to blame for the crash. Two people at the scene had witnessed the car speeding, McCausland said.
Former Auburn City Councilor Gerard Dennison, the grandfather of Britney Lee Wentworth, said she was a freshman at Central Maine Community College. He sent an email Saturday to friends at the college:
“Pat and I got a call just before 11 last night that our second granddaughter Britney Lee Wentworth was in a tragic car accident. A few minutes later we learned she died instantly. She was a passenger in her boyfriend’s car. He tried passing a vehicle on a steep curve … and he went off the road into a tree. He also died.”
Dennison said he felt helpless upon learning of his granddaughter’s death. “It’s a useless feeling right now,” he said.
“She would have been 19 next week,” he said in an interview. “We were planning her birthday.”
According to Mechanic Falls Deputy Fire Chief Matt Fifield, the car was headed north when it skidded out of control. The crash occurred at the end of a curve, with the vehicle landing in a clearing next to a camper trailer.
Fire crews from Mechanic Falls, Poland and Auburn responded to the accident. Mechanic Falls police were assisted by Oxford police and the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department.
The Mechanic Falls Police Department asked state police to handle the investigation because of the severity of the accident, McCausland said. Maine State Police will reconstruct and investigate the crash in the coming weeks.
On Saturday night, state police were trying to determine where the car was heading and where it had come from at the time of the crash, McCausland said.
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