ROCKPORT — The father of the children involved in a Route 1 crash Thursday evening was arrested later for disorderly conduct at the emergency room at Pen Bay Medical Center. While at the ER, police said he took his 6-month-old baby boy and bolted across Route 1 to a gas station, where he was found soon after by police hiding with his son behind a dumpster.

Rockport police arrested Ben Rankin, 26, of Camden, and transported him to jail, where he is being held on a probation violation.

The crash that injured two adults and three children remains under investigation today by Rockport Police.

According to Rockport police, Amanda Rankin, 27, of Camden, was driving the Jeep that veered off Route 1 just before 8 p.m. and rolled — according to some witnesses, several times — over a guard rail and down an embankment. Charges are pending for Amanda Rankin, as well, police said, Friday, at noon.

Rockport police said they believed the baby boy is fine, and others have been released from the hospital.

A Jeep heading south on Route 1 in Rockport was reportedly operating erratically this evening, so much so that the driver of another car on the same road called 911. Before it could be stopped, the Jeep hit a guard rail, then veered diagonally across the highway, and “literally went tail over nose like a Ferris Wheel,” a witness described.

The SUV flipped over the guard rail on the opposite side of the road, and tumbled down a steep embankment, where it came to rest against a stand of trees. All five in the vehicle were injured.

Amy Sabaka, who was heading home, witnessed the crash and ran to assist, lifting a six-month-old baby from the car seat and helping another young girl back up to safety. She described a scene that had unfolded before her eyes.

“I heard everybody screaming,” said Sabaka, who stayed close by one of the victims, a young girl, until medical care arrived.

The crash occurred just before 7:45 p.m., June 11, and closed Route 1 temporarily while Rockport firefighters, police, Rockland EMS and North East Mobile Health Services rushed to get the two adults and three children to Pen Bay Medical Center. The road then reopened to one lane of traffic while crews brought the Jeep up from the woods.

Rockport Police and firefighters raced to scene, and when they arrived, the Jeep was upright, though smashed against trees and alders, in wetlands. Everyone had been helped out of the vehicle by passersby. Firefighters and EMS carried some of the injured up the embankment to the waiting ambulances.

Camden Exxon hauled the Jeep up the hill, over the guard rail, and onto the road, before loading it onto a trailer and transporting it to Camden. The Jeep was totaled.

A Knox County Sheriff deputy was assisting Rockport Police at the crash.

The crash remains under investigation tonight by Rockport Police.

PenBayPilot.com will update this story when more information is available.

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com