NAPLES – A Casco woman was charged with driving while intoxicated late Friday after a trio of crashes involving three cars and a house were reported over a span of minutes.
At about 8:30 p.m., Cumberland County Sheriff’s officials received several reports of a driver headed east on Route 302 on the wrong side of the road. Less than two minutes later, more calls came in, this time reporting a series of wrecks.
The driver of one vehicle reported being side-swiped while crossing the Naples Causeway bridge, police said. Moments later, a second driver a mile away reported being struck by a pickup truck traveling in the wrong lane.
The offending pickup then careened off the road, police said, and struck a residential home at the intersection of Roosevelt Trail and Songo School Road.
Sheriff’s deputies who responded said they determined that each crash had been caused by Barbara J. Thorpe, 65, of Casco, who had been driving a 2011 Toyota Tacoma. Thorpe, who police said had been driving alone in the truck, was arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a crash. She was taken to the Cumberland County Jail where she was being held on $200 cash bail.
Police said the first vehicle struck on the Naples Causeway bridge was occupied by a woman traveling with two 14-year-old girls in her vehicle. The second vehicle struck was occupied by a lone woman. None were injured.
The home struck by Thorpe’s truck was occupied at the time of the collision, police said, but no one was hurt in the wreck.
Thorpe is scheduled to appear in court in December.
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