The officer involved in a two-vehicle crash in Ellsworth on Sept. 24 made an improper turn before striking the SUV.
Officer Zachary Chandler, 26, was driving the cruiser west on Route 1 in Ellsworth around 12:45 p.m. when he tried to make a U-Turn near the Twin Hill Road intersection, according to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department.
As Chandler turned from the breakdown lane the cruiser struck the passenger side of a Toyota SUV that was passing it on the left, “causing it to roll over several times before coming to rest on its side in a ditch,” Deputy Kyle Kramer wrote in a synopsis of the crash.
According to the sheriff’s department, the turn was improperly made because it was too close to an intersection, and Chandler did not turn on the cruiser’s lights or siren, the Ellsworth American reported.
The driver of the Toyota, a 50-year-old woman, and her passenger, 70, both of New Hampshire, suffered minor injuries in the crash and were taken by ambulance to Northern Light Maine Coast Hospital in Ellsworth.
They were released from the hospital on the same day, according to the Ellsworth newspaper.
