BOWDOINHAM

A nurse riding unsecured in the back of a Delta Ambulance that crashed along Interstate 295 northbound in Bowdoinham Friday morning was taken to a hospital with some leg injuries, but no one sustained major injuries.

The crash was reported at 5:19 a.m. just beyond the Route 138 overpass. Maine State Trooper Ian Dunn said it doesn’t appear the ambulance rolled over, though it was initially reported it had. The driver dozed off or fell asleep, Dunn said, and the ambulance left the travel lane, crossing into the passing lane and then into the median. It then hit a crossover, went airborne, landed and ran over approximately 50 feet of guardrail. 

The guardrail is designed to give a little, Dunn said, and did its job, keeping the 2012 Chevy G4500 ambulance on the road. 

Dunn said the Waterville-based ambulance crew had just dropped of a patient who was in labor at Maine Medical Center in Portland and was returning. The nurse in the back, Stephanie Whelpley, 33, of Jay, had some leg contusions and was taken by Topsham Rescue to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta.

The driver, Paul Ratigan, 54, of Bridgton and passenger, Nathan Gromek, 21, of Waterville, were not injured.

Dunn said he doesn’t anticipate any charges.

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