WEST PARIS — Two passengers were injured Tuesday night when a driver apparently blacked out during a coughing fit and his truck snapped a utility pole beside Route 26, Maine State Police Trooper Jonathan Russell said.
Aimee Fillds, 31, of West Paris and her 12-year-old daughter suffered minor injuries to their arms and were taken to Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway, officials said.
The two, along with Fillds’ 14-year-old son, were passengers in a pickup truck driven north by Daniel Paul, 32, of West Paris. Paul suffered what Russell called a “coughing fit” that may have caused him to lose consciousness briefly.
Paul and the boy were not injured, officials said.
Russell said Paul’s 1995 GMC pickup left Route 26 at around 6:40 p.m. about a mile from Route 219. It snapped off a utility pole and tension on the wires pulled down another pole across the highway.
Paul and the Filldses got out of the pickup on their own, he said.
At the same time, Kenneth McNeil, 64, of South Paris was driving south in a 2002 Kenworth tractor-trailer for Price Systems Inc. of West Paris when it got entangled in the wires, trapping him in the cab. He was not hurt, Russell said.
West Paris fire Chief Norm St. Pierre said power to the area was shut off for about an hour so McNeil could be freed. However, the road will most likely remain closed until early morning, he said, while the poles and wires are repaired.
dmcintire@sunjournal.com
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- A GMC pickup truck driven by Daniel Paul, 32, of West Paris lies in a ditch beside Route 26 in West Paris after snapping off a utility pole Tuesday night.
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- A tractor-trailer driven by Kenneth McNeil of South Paris got entangled in power lines Tuesday night on Route 26 in West Paris. A pickup truck snapped a utility pole, bringing down a transformer, lines and a second pole, police said. McNeil was not hurt.
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- A broken utility pole and transformer lie beside Route 26 in West Paris after a truck snapped it off Tuesday night.
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