TURNER — A driver suffered life-threatening injuries Monday night after crashing into a large tree on Turner Center Road and being thrown into the Nezinscot River, according to an Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office statement.

Shortly before 9:10 p.m., the unnamed driver of a 2013 Ford Focus failed to negotiate a sharp turn near General Turner Hill Road, hit a large tree and was ejected from the vehicle into shallow water, Deputy Chief Bill Gagne wrote in the statement. Speed and alcohol are considered factors in the crash.

Turner Deputy Fire Chief Nicholas Merry said in a phone call that he arrived at the scene moments after the first emergency vehicle. First responders found the vehicle empty and immediately searched for its occupant.

When the driver was spotted down a steep bank in the water, responders from Turner and Greene fire departments, and the Sheriff’s Office formed a human chain down the bank to bring the driver up and into the ambulance for transport to Central Maine Medical Center.

“It was some great work between Turner and Greene departments and the Sheriff’s Office,” Merry said. “It was seamless work.”

Turner Center Road was closed for hours while investigators processed the scene.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact Cpl. Darian Nadeau at 207-753-2599 or dnadeau@androscoggincountymaine.gov.

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