NEW GLOUCESTER — A 59-year-old man suffered life-threatening injuries Wednesday morning when his car collided head-on with a school bus carrying 10 third- and fourth-grade students on Route 231.
No students were injured in the crash, but Robert Doughty Jr. of Yarmouth was taken by LifeFlight of Maine helicopter to Central Maine Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, according to a release from Capt. Donald Goulet of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.
The driver of the bus, Kathleen Allen, was taken by ambulance to CMMC with minor injuries.
Their conditions were unavailable late Wednesday afternoon.
Doughty was driving a 2015 Acura north on Route 231 near Penny Road when his car went off the right side of the road. Doughty over-corrected and crossed the road into the path of the Maine School Administrative District 15 school bus driven by Allen.
The 2010 International bus and the Acura were both heavily damaged.
The 9- and 10-year-old students were taken by a second bus to Burchard A. Dunn Elementary School, according to Bob Beasley, superintendent of Maine School Administrative District 15, which includes Gray and New Gloucester.
In the meantime, parents of those 10 students were notified of the crash “and that they could come to Dunn School if they felt like they needed to be with their child,” Beasley said.
Parents of other children in the district were notified of the crash through a messenger program, and they were told if they hadn’t already been contacted, their child had not been involved.
Allen has held a few different driving positions with the district over the past several years, according to Beasley.
“I was talking to Geoff Robbins, the principal at Dunn School, about what a tribute this is to our bus driving staff,” Beasley said. “They work really hard on student safety and are adamant about student safety. While I certainly hope the driver of the vehicle and the bus driver and students are fine, this is an opportunity to celebrate students following proper procedures because no one was standing up in their seats or turned around.”
The Maine Department of Transportation closed Route 231 for about three hours while the crash was investigated Wednesday. The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office reconstruction team is investigating the crash.
Further information about the cause of the crash was still unknown late Wednesday afternoon.
UPDATED STORY: According to an official on scene, some of the children on the bus suffered minor injuries. They have all been transported to an undisclosed location.
Posted by WGME CBS 13 News, Portland on Wednesday, June 10, 2015
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