AUBURN — An Auburn police officer and the prisoner he was transporting to the Androscoggin County Jail were injured in a crash Tuesday evening on Court Street.
Officer Michael Richard, 30, and his backseat passenger, Justin Brousseau, 30, both of Auburn, were taken to an area hospital with minor injuries as a result of the 6:25 p.m. crash at Court Street, Union Street Bypass and Minot Avenue.
Sgt. Rielly Bryant of the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office said Richards was traveling on Court Street toward downtown Auburn when his cruiser was hit broadside on the driver’s side by a 1992 Ford F150 pickup driven by 18-year-old Dillon Downs of Leeds. Downs was southbound on Route 4 crossing Court Street from Union Street Bypass to Minot Avenue.
Bryant said the crash spun the cruiser around through the intersection. It came to rest in front of another car sitting at the red light on the Minot Avenue side. The operator of that car, Margot Siekman, 69, of Buckfield, told police that the cruiser then suddenly rolled forward and hit her 2004 Toyota four-door.
Downs said he was on his way to visit his mother in southern Maine.
“I don’t know. I thought the light was green. He didn’t have his lights on,” Downs said after the crash.
Damage to Downs’ pickup was estimated at $4,000; to the 2009 Ford Crown Victoria police cruiser driven by Richards and owned by the city of Auburn, $18,000; and to Seikman’s four-door, $800.
Downs was cited for failing to stop at a red light.
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