A pickup truck and car involved in a head-on crash on the Falmouth spur of the Maine Turnpike are loaded onto tow trucks Monday. Maine State Police
The driver of a stolen pickup truck crashed head-on with another vehicle and closed a section of highway north of Portland during a high-speed chase Monday morning, Maine State Police said.
Five people were injured in the crash, which took place in westbound lanes of the Falmouth spur of the Maine Turnpike around 11:30 a.m. Monday, state police spokeswoman Shannon Moss said in a press release.
The alleged driver, Mary Jo Hefferon, 33, of Farmington, New Hampshire, was charged with several crimes, including reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and driving to endanger.
Police started chasing a speeding red Chevy Silverado north on the Maine Turnpike in Scarborough around 11:18 a.m. Troopers stopped the chase in heavy traffic and construction zones around Portland but picked it up on the Falmouth spur, a connecting highway between the turnpike and Interstate 295, Moss said.
Police attempted to stop the truck with a spike mat, but the driver swerved into the westbound lanes and collided head-on with a passenger vehicle from Massachusetts, Moss said.
The three adults in that vehicle were taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland, one with serious but not life-threatening injuries, she added. Hefferon and a male passenger in the truck were also taken to the hospital with injuries.
Westbound traffic lanes were closed for about an hour because of the crash.
Hefferon had a serious but not life-threatening injury. She was charged with eluding police, violating conditions of release, operating without a license, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, driving to endanger and receiving stolen property, Moss said.
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