At least two of the four people who were injured in a fatal three-car crash in Windsor on Thursday remained hospitalized Friday.

Meanwhile, police continued investigating the crash that killed Madison Martin, 28, of Augusta.

Witnesses said Martin was driving faster than 100 mph as he swerved across Route 17, hit a vehicle while passing on the right and then collided with a van and a sport utility vehicle.

Witnesses told police that a passenger in Martin’s car, a teenage girl whom police have not identified, was hitting Martin and trying to control the car by grabbing the steering wheel.

Police are still trying to determine the girl’s connection to Martin and why she was in the car with him.

Chief Deputy Everett Flannery of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office said Friday that he did not know whether the girl, who is 17 and from Chelsea, was a member of Martin’s family.

Flannery said the girl was critically injured in the crash and survived overnight, but he did not know her condition Friday. She was taken by LifeFlight helicopter to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston after the crash Thursday morning.

Sheriff Randall Liberty said in a release Thursday that speed and drugs were factors in the crash.

Flannery wouldn’t say why police believe drugs were involved or specify what kind of drugs are suspected. He said Martin’s blood will be tested for chemicals as part of the investigation and police will interview everyone Martin had contact with in the 24 hours before the accident.

Police said Martin was speeding east on Route 17 in his 1989 Buick Reatta around 10:30 a.m. Thursday when he hit James Tasse’s 2004 Toyota Sienna van from behind. The van was going the speed limit in the same direction.

The Reatta then smashed head-on into a 2008 Toyota Highlander driven by Richard Newcombe, 63, of Whitefield.

Peggy Newcombe, 62, of Whitefield, who was a passenger in the Highlander, remained at Maine Medical Center in Portland, but an update on her condition was unavailable Friday. She was listed in satisfactory condition Thursday night.

Richard Newcombe was taken to Central Maine Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. A hospital spokeswoman said Friday that Newcombe was no longer at the hospital, although it was not clear whether he had been discharged or transferred.

The other driver, Tasse, 49, of Cape Elizabeth, was taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta after the crash. A hospital spokeswoman said she didn’t know Tasse’s condition or whether he was still a patient at the hospital.

Kennebec Journal Staff Writer Craig Crosby can be contacted at 621-5642 or at:

ccrosby@centralmaine.com

 

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