A Sidney teenager was killed late Friday night in an all-terrain vehicle accident on Shepard Road in that town.
Game Warden Steven Couture said Halee Cummings, 18, was a passenger on a Polaris 850 ATV operated by Alexander Biddle, 21, of Pittston.
Evidence at the scene indicated the ATV traveled off the side of a gravel driveway and into a ditch at an apparent high rate of speed, striking several trees, ejecting Cummings, then rolling over onto of Biddle, Couture said. Cummings was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency medical services personnel. Biddle was taken by ambulance to Maine General Medical Center in Augusta with injuries that were not thought to be life-threatening.
Game wardens and state police troopers went to 144 Shepard Road in Sidney about 10 p.m. Friday in response to a report of an ATV crash involving two people with serious injuries, Couture said.
Couture said Cummings was a graduate of Messalonskee High School in Oakland. He said she was enrolled this year at the University of Maine at Augusta.
Alcohol appears to have been a factor in the crash and the incident is still under investigation, according to Couture.
Wardens Couture and Sgt. Scott Thrasher responded, as did Troopers Breanne Petrini and Jesse Duda. Sidney Fire and Rescue assisted.
Cummings’ body was released to Knowlton-Hewins-Roberts Funeral Home in Augusta.
The accident was the second such tragedy to strike the area in the past year.
Cassidy Charette, 17-year-old Messalonskee student, was killed in a hayride accident in October 2014. Her boyfriend, 16-year-old Connor Garland, was injured seriously in the accident on a haunted hayride called “The Gauntlet” at Harvest Hills in Mechanic Falls. A Jeep pulling a trailer filled with passengers lost control, hit a tree and overturned, sending 22 people to the hospital.
Androscoggin County District Attorney Andrew Robinson said in July that he chose not to seek an indictment against farm owner Peter Bolduc because the investigation showed there was a substantial chance it would not lead to a conviction.
Two employees of the farm face misdemeanor charges, and the farm itself faces manslaughter and other felony charges. All three defendants pleaded not guilty.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter: @Doug_Harlow
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