Rescue workers rushed to the scene this morning of a sport utility vehicle that drove off Interstate 295 and down a deep gully.
The crash was reported at 5:25 a.m. on I-295 northbound in Topsham about a half-mile from the Bowdoin town line, according to Maine State Police Trooper Kyle Pelletier. Cynthia Chepke, 58, of West Gardiner was driving a Mitsubishi Outlander north to Augusta from Old Orchard Beach, Pelletier said.
“She fell asleep at the wheel and went off the roadway” somewhere near mile marker 35, Pelletier said. The SUV traveled approximately 100 feet off the roadway, clipped a pine tree approximately 12 inches in diameter, and then came to rest upside down. Topsham Fire and Rescue and Bowdoinham Fire Department responded and were able to get Chepke out without the use of any tools, Pelletier said. Chepke was lucid at the scene and was transported to Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick. A male passenger in the vehicle was also asleep but was not injured. Every airbag in the vehicle deployed.
As of 9:40 a.m. Chepke was still being treated in the emergency room for her injuries, according to a hospital spokesman.
Pelletier said the SUV left the road less than 20 feet from a guardrail and believes if Chepke had hit the guardrail, “the crash wouldn’t have been as severe as it was.” Because the SUV went down a steep embankment when it left the roadway, it required two wreckers from Atlantic Coast Towing to remove the vehicle.
As of this morning no charges were being filed.
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