The driver of a car that struck a horse-drawn wagon on Friday apparently was blinded by the sun and didn’t see the wagon ahead of him in the road, police said Saturday.
No decision has been made about whether charges will be filed against Richard Libby, 73, of Clinton, after his 2016 Chrysler sedan struck the wagon, injuring seven, including one woman who is in critical condition after she was run over by his car.
A news release Saturday from Waterville police said conclusions from what is expected to be an extensive investigation into the accident will be forwarded to a legislative committee set up to study carriage ride safety.
“It appears Libby’s vision was impaired by the angle and intensity of the afternoon sun and he did not see the carriage before striking it,” Waterville Deputy Chief Charles Rumsey said in the release.
Libby and Cathleen Simmons, 42, of Sidney, who was driving the wagon, were taken to the hospital for blood tests following the accident, but “based on the preliminary stage of this investigation, it appears that neither speed nor alcohol were a factor,” Rumsey said in the release.
Simmons said she had made the trip roughly eight times Friday, and though the sun was bright, she said she was able to shade her eyes by wearing a baseball cap.
Neither Libby nor Simmons was injured in the accident.
Kathy Marciarille, 56, of Rome suffered the most serious injury when she fell off the wagon and then apparently was hit and run over by Libby’s car, according to police.
Marciarille was removed from under the car by emergency responders. She was taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center’s Thayer Unit in Waterville for emergency treatment before being transferred by LifeFlight helicopter to Maine Medical Center in Portland, where she was listed in critical condition Saturday.
Six others suffered minor injuries, according to police. Fourteen passengers were on the ride. All but two of them were adults. The two toddler-age children on the ride were not hurt.
The two horses pulling the wagon, Princess and Belle, also were not hurt, police said.
The accident happened shortly after 2:30 p.m. when the horse-drawn hayride, part of the popular free annual Central Maine Family Dinner held at the Elks lodge and owned by S&S Carriage Rides of Sidney, was traveling west on Industrial Street, carrying 14 passengers and Simmons. Libby, also traveling west on the road, struck the wagon from behind.
Results of an investigation will be reported to a legislative study committee that is considering how best to ensure safety for carriage rides. That committee was formed after a hayride accident in October 2014 in Mechanic Falls killed Oakland teenager Cassidy Charette and injured 20 others;.
Rumsey said further investigation of Friday’s accident will be done on Libby’s car, which was towed to Ace Towing, “where it will undergo further inspection for mechanical defects and for evidence gathering and analysis.”
“A final conclusion on the cause of the accident is not anticipated to be available for some time” because of “the complicated nature of the reconstruction investigation,” Rumsey said.
“Any decision regarding potential charges resulting from this crash will be made by this agency when the investigation is concluded,” he said.
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