Five people were injured in a single-car crash in Lebanon early Tuesday that appeared to be the result of the driver going too fast for the slippery road conditions, according to Maine State Police.

Two of the people in the car suffered what appeared to be serious injuries when a Nissan Versa rolled over on Depot Road at 1:45 a.m. Tuesday. None of the passengers was wearing a seat belt, authorities said.

The driver apparently lost control on a road surface covered with 2 inches of packed snow, said state police Trooper Michael Pappas. The car ricocheted off a couple of snow-banks before leaving the road and hitting a large stump, about 3 feet high and 3½ feet in diameter, police said. The force of the crash ripped the stump out of the ground and sent it flying 50 feet through the air.

The car went off the road near the fire station on Depot Road, rolled several times and came to rest on its roof, Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole said in a news release.

There were no signs of drinking or drug use, police said, but the fact that nobody in the car was wearing a seat belt contributed to their injuries.

The driver of the car, Kate Pimental, 18, of Dover, N.H., was taken to the trauma unit of Maine Medical Center in Portland complaining of head pain, Cole said, but was later discharged. The front-seat passenger, Haley Hagood, 18, of Sanford, was taken to Goodall Hospital in Sanford after she said one side of her body felt numb, but she also was treated and released.

Three passengers who were in the back seat – two 19-year-old women and a 22-year-old man, all from Sanford – were taken to Goodall Hospital with minor injuries.

David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:

dhench@pressherald.com