FARMINGTON — A Eustis teenager was taken to the hospital Wednesday after the pickup truck he was driving nearly struck a sheriff’s deputy’s vehicle head-on and then crashed into three parked vehicles and a sign that hit a fourth vehicle, destroying all vehicles involved.

A news release from Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols said the teen, whose name was not released, was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital for medical and psychological evaluation and is facing charges of driving to endanger and eluding an officer. Other charges may be pending from both Farmington police and state police, according to Nichols.

Sheriff’s deputies got a call at 11:33 a.m. Wednesday from someone reporting that a blue pickup truck was traveling south on Route 27, Fairbanks Road, north of downtown at a high rate of speed and passing cars on both the left and right, according to Nichols.

Deputy Kevin Hartley saw the pickup at the intersection of routes 27 and 4 and was nearly hit head-on by the pickup, Nichols said.

Nichols said Hartley followed the pickup into Farmington, where the road changes from Fairbanks Road to Main Street. The pickup reached speeds of up to 75 mph in a 30-mph zone before the driver lost control at Horns Corner near a World War I monument, crashing into three cars that were parked in the parking lot of ACME Engineering and Medulla Hair Salon.

“A fourth parked vehicle was also damaged by a sign which was struck by the offending, throwing it into that vehicle,” Nichols said in the release.

Farmington police Officer Michael Lyman, who covered the crash, was not available for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Related Stories