ROCKLAND – One teenager was transferred by emergency helicopter to a Maine trauma center following a one-vehicle crash in Rockland, Thursday, August 29, that also injured two other youths.

After at least half an hour of labor by responders after a 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee left the road and landed on its roof within the driveway of at 25 Farwell Drive (Rt. 90) business, responders were able to gain access to Gabrielle Keene, 17, of Waldoboro.

Rockland and Rockport firefighters and EMTs worked together to jack up the upside-down rear of the car and use extrication gear to reach Keene. All the while, a fire department handline hose and fire extinguisher remained close by due to continuously dripping fuel from somewhere under the hood.

Keene was temporarily loaded into a North East Mobile Health ambulance to await LifeFlight of Maine, which landed a few minutes later on Route 90 within the accident scene.

The other two occupants, Katelyn Thomas, 18, of Rockland, and Alex Lewis, 19, of Farmingdale and Rockport, were also seriously injured and transported to Pen Bay Medical Center. Thomas was the driver, according to Rockland Police Chief Chris Young. Lewis was in the passenger seat. 

The police investigation into the crash is being led by Young, with the assistance of Rockport PD, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, and members of the Maine State Police Accident Reconstruction Unit.

Though Young could not immediately answer what caused the car to leave the road, tire marks across the lawns of two adjacent businesses indicated the direction of travel after the driver lost control.

Coming from a eastbound direction, toward Rockport, the tire tracks dug into an embankment outside of Prince’s Furniture. They were lost from sight across the entryway of that business, but returned to sight again through a vegetative border with the next door business, Acute Grinding. Grass from the vegetative area littered the next gravel driveway, leaving a trail to the car.

Route 90 was closed from just after 2 p.m., reopening one lane around 4:30 p.m. After State Police troopers with reconstruction expertise reviewed notes and mapped the area with a drone, after the vehicle was loaded onto a Camden Exxon wrecker, and after Rockport FD completed cleanup, traffic returned to normal at about 5:04 p.m.

Warren Fire Department provided traffic control at Tolman Road.

The Knox County Regional Communications Center coordinated all efforts.

This article will be updated as details become available.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKPORT — A one vehicle crash on Route 90 in Rockport at 2 p.m. left three people injured Aug. 29. The highway remains closed between Mill Street in Rockport and Tolman Road in Rockland while police reconstruct what happened to send the SUV off the road and onto its roof, entrapping one victim.

Rockport Firefighters arrived on the scene with extrication equipment, jacking up the vehicle onto blocks so that firefighter Steve Laite could crawl underneath through the back of the SUV to help release the victim from the frame.

Rockland Fire and EMS, North East Mobile Health Services and a LifeFlight helicopter each transported one of the injured to hospitals.

LifeFlight’s helicopter landed on Route 90.

This story will be updated when more details become available.