A driver who was trying to pass a loaded fuel tanker on Interstate 95 in Houlton on Monday morning lost traction on the road and slid under the truck’s wheels, causing a chain-reaction pileup that forced Maine State Police to shut down the northbound lanes for three hours.
Ricki Hammond, 45, of Washburn was driving a 2003 four-door Chevrolet sedan when he tried to pass the tanker truck owned by H.O. Bouchard around 11 a.m, said Cpl. Dennis Quint of the state police in a news release. Roads were snow-covered at the time.
Quint said Hammond’s car slid into a guardrail before sliding under the fuel tanker between its front and back wheels. The car came to rest in the middle of the road, but the obstruction caused “a chain reaction involving four bucket trucks from Grand Falls, New Brunswick, a tractor-trailer truck loaded with salt, and a pickup truck,” Quint said.
Hammond was taken to Houlton Regional Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. No one else was taken to the hospital.
It took police about three hours to have all the vehicles towed from the scene.
The crash remains under investigation, Quint said.
Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:
dhoey@pressherald.com
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