A Falmouth man who drove his pickup truck the wrong way on Interstate 295, collided head-on with another vehicle and seriously injured the driver may face charges, police say.
George Douglas, 72, was cited for driving on the wrong side of a divided highway, which carries a $165 fine, said Maine State Trooper Doug Cropper.
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The crash occurred about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday in the southbound lanes between exits 6 and 7 in Portland.
“He did feel horrible, and I told him what happened to the victim,” Cropper said. “They’re contemplating some stiffer penalties.”
Before the crash, Douglas had visited his wife at Maine Medical Center. He left the hospital and drove west on Congress Street.
At Congress and St. John streets, Douglas continued west on Congress, against one-way traffic. He then turned left onto the Fore River Parkway and got on the interstate near the entrance to the Portland Transportation Center, Cropper said, driving up the Exit 5 off-ramp into the southbound lanes.
He continued north on I-295, going the wrong way for nearly a mile until his Chevrolet Silverado hit a black Chevrolet Cobalt head-on, police say.
The driver of the Cobalt, Amy Turner, 57, a nurse who was driving home from work, suffered a broken arm and leg, Cropper said.
Turner was listed in fair condition at Maine Medical Center on Friday. Calls to Turner and Douglas were not returned.
Cropper said Douglas, who was driving with his adult son at the time of the accident, was visibly shaken after the crash.
The son, who was not identified, was unable to tell troopers how his father got on the highway. Cropper said alcohol was not involved.
It was not the first time Cropper had encountered a wrong-way driver on the busy highway in Portland.
In June 2012, he used his cruiser to stop an 88-year-old driver from Scarborough who was driving the wrong way near Franklin Street, rushing onto the highway ahead of the man and stopping the errant Ford Crown Victoria just before it plowed into Cropper’s front bumper.
No one was injured.
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