ANSON – One man died after he was ejected late Saturday from his vehicle on Brown Hill Road.

Dan Briggs, 28, of Anson had died by the time paramedics arrived at 11:38 p.m. at the crash scene on the dirt road.

Briggs, who had rescued people as a member of the Coast Guard and patrolled the waters around New York City after Sept. 11, had a 5-year-old son.

His mother, Sandra Willard, described him as “loving, caring, the best dad, best son.”

He was a 2000 graduate of Carrabec High School and worked for a company that inspects utility poles, she said.

“We’re pretty broken up. We haven’t slept. The phone rings nonstop. We haven’t eaten, don’t want to eat,” she said.

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Saturday night, Briggs left his mother’s house on Hollin Waite Hill Road to drive to his home on Fletcher Road to pick something up and then return, said David Savage, an officer for the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office.

Returning to his mother’s house, he traveled down a steep hill on Brown Hill Road. He lost control of the vehicle, Savage said, which struck a rock and rolled over. Briggs was ejected.

When he was gone longer than his friends and family expected, they went looking for him. They called 911 when they found him at 11:24 p.m.

Paramedics from the Anson-Madison-Starks ambulance service told police he had been dead half an hour before their arrival.

A LifeFlight helicopter, which was requested at 11:39 p.m., was canceled shortly afterward upon learning of his death, Anson Fire Chief Alan Walker said.

Savage said he is unsure how Briggs was ejected. The moon roof of his blue 1998 Ford Explorer was open, as was the driver’s side window. He had likely not been wearing a seat belt, Savage said. The airbags deployed.

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Briggs had consumed one or two drinks, but it won’t be known if alcohol was a factor until the autopsy is complete, Savage said.

In addition to Savage, about eight firefighters responded to the scene, along with Maine State Police Trooper Jonathan Wilson and Somerset County Detective Mathew Cunningham.

The scene was cleared around 2:15 a.m. Sunday.

 


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