The driver of a UPS delivery truck that crashed from Route 1 onto the adjacent Androscoggin River Bicycle Path Wednesday night has been charged with operating under the influence and driving to endanger. Contributed photo

BRUNSWICK — Police charged a Lewiston man with operating under the influence after he crashed a UPS truck into a bike path adjacent to Route 1 on Wednesday night.

John O’Brion, 32, of Lewiston was driving the 2008 Freightliner UPS delivery truck south on Route 1 near Cook’s Corner shortly after 5:30 p.m. when the crash happened.

O’Brion also faces changes of driving to endanger and criminal mischief.

O’Brion allegedly hit and jumped the guardrail on the side of Route 1 and crashed through the fence on both sides of the Androscoggin River Bicycle Path, a 2.6-mile trail that runs between the river and Route 1, according to a news release.

No pedestrians were injured.

O’Brion was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland with injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening. Maine Medical Center had no information about O’Brion on Thursday morning, according to a hospital representative.

Advertisement

A passenger in the truck was uninjured.

The UPS truck was empty at the time of the crash and is believed to be totaled, the release states. Police and firefighters remained at the crash scene for two hours while a heavy wrecker removed the truck.

The crash caused an estimated $6,000 in damage to the bike path, police said.

Tom Farrell, the director of Brunswick Parks and Recreation, said the bike trail will be closed in the area where the truck damaged the guardrail until it can be replaced or some temporary barriers between Route 1 and the bike path. The Maine Department of Transportation had workers assessing the damage Thursday.

There will be signs about the closure installed at the path Thursday. From the Water Street side, people can still walk 1.5 miles before they have to turn around, Farrell said. The closure is a mile from the Grover Lane side of the trail off Old Bath Road.

Comments are not available on this story.