SEARSPORT - An driver was allegedly distracted when she drove into a utility pole in downtown Searsport, Monday. In addition to damage at the scene, the accident set off a cascade of disruptions in the area: to traffic, to utilities and reportedly to good manners.

Searsport Police Chief Dick LaHaye said Kelly Hynd, 44, of Cushing was traveling west on Route 1 in a 2005 Ford Escape SUV just before the accident. She reported that she was abiding the 25 mph speed limit when her cell phone rang.

“She took her eyes off the road momentarily and cleaned out the pole,” LaHaye said. 

The accident occurred at around 12:05 p.m. outside the Searsport Fire Station. LaHaye said Hynd was treated at the scene, then taken to Waldo County General Hospital and subsequently released. At the scene she complained of pain in her left arm.

The SUV was totaled and the utility pole snapped in half as a result of the crash. Searsport emergency officials closed Route 1 due to the downed power lines and rerouted traffic around the scene via Old Country Road for roughly four hours while the scene was cleared.

The detour passed by Searsport’s public school on Mortland Road and as the schools dismissed LaHaye said the police department began to get complaints of drivers speeding in the school zone. Additionally, he said, there were a number of complaints of rude drivers.

“A firefighter had an orange thrown at him,” LaHaye said.

LaHaye said he understood that people may have been frustrated by delays, but that they took it out on other citizens and emergency workers was “too bad.”

“We really didn’t want to [close Route 1], because were putting tractor trailer trucks on these back roads,” he said. He added that closing a major road is a last resort based on safety considerations.

CMP crews had been on their way to a similar accident on Verona Island when they came across the downed pole in Searsport, LaHaye said.

Workers replaced the utility pole and restored electricity by around 4 p.m.. Communications lines belonging to Time Warner Cable and Fairpoint Communications were also damaged in the crash.

“It definitely taxed everyone’s services today,” LaHaye said late Monday afternoon.

Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com