WATERVILLE — A motorist was taken to the hospital with serious injuries Thursday afternoon after the car he was driving careened off Mayflower Hill Drive at Colby College, knocked out several metal fence posts connected by chains near the college athletic field, struck several young trees, crossed a paved walkway and crashed, head-on, into a large pine tree.
The accident occurred at 1:48 p.m. as the car was traveling northeast on Mayflower Hill Drive through the Colby campus, according to Waterville police Sgt. Alden Weigelt.
Weigelt said the driver, a 68-year-old man, was alone in the car, a Hyundai Sonata, and he is not from the Waterville area. Weigelt said he could not release the man’s name because police were trying to notify his family members, who live out of the area.
The man initially was taken to Thayer Center for Health on North Street, but then was transferred to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta, where he was being taken to the operating room, according to Weigelt.
“It was serious enough that we called in an accident reconstructionist from Kennebec, so the accident is being reconstructed,” he said. “We do have an eyewitness that spoke to the gentleman before the accident occurred. They had met each other and I don’t know what the context is, at a building at Colby, and had a conversation.”
Weigelt said that “it appears to be a possible medical problem that could be a factor” that caused the crash.
Waterville police Officer Matt Libby was still at the scene at 4 p.m. where Kennebec County Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Scott Mills was just leaving after helping to reconstruct the crash.
Ace Tire Towing & Recovery was preparing to tow away the gray Hyundai, whose front was smashed against the tree. The tree stood among several large pines on the east side of Mayflower Hill Drive near where the road dips down and connects to North Street.
Yellow tape was used to cordon off the area where the car went off the road and the tape continued down several hundred feet to where the car landed against the tree.
That area of Mayflower Hill Drive is busy, with Colby students jogging and walking near the ball field and entrance to Campus Drive that runs past the Alfond Athletic Center.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
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