Updated: Victims identified in Whitefield, Portland fatals Friday

Fri, 01/20/2017 - 4:00pm

    State Police say Robert Frith, 62, of West Gardiner died Friday afternoon, Jan. 20, after the dump truck he was driving overturned in Whitefield. Frith worked for BHS Inc. of Farmingdale.

    Troopers said the truck, loaded with gravel, went off Doyle Road about 1:30 p.m., overturned on its side and struck a tree. Frith died at the scene. The dirt road has been closed for the investigation and the truck’s removal.

    The crash was one of two fatal motor vehicle incidents in Maine Friday, the other in Portland. A Maine Turnpike employee was killed when struck by a truck at a construction site near the Westbrook line. Killed was Jeffrey Abbott, 53, of Saco.  Abbott had been in an MTA safety vehicle at the construction site and he had just left the cab of the truck to remove some safety cones when he was struck and killed.

    Troopers said Cody Craig, 20, of Turner,  was the driver of the truck, which had struck two vehicles ahead of him that had slowed down for the construction work. The truck, owned by Nortrax Corp. of Westbrook, then veered into the construction area and struck Abbott. The two vehicles the truck hit were driven by Joshua Brown, 40, of Rumford and Kelly James, 25, of Lewiston.  Neither driver was injured. The crash was reported at 1:35 p.m. and troopers cleared the scene at 5:15 p.m.  No charges were lodged, but the crash report, when completed, will be reviewed by the Cumberland County District Attorney's Office.