ELLSWORTH — A Blue Hill man was killed on Thursday afternoon when the truck he was driving collided head-on with a car driven by 82-year-old James Steenstra of Hancock, according to a statement from the Ellsworth Police Department.
Steenstra’s car, a Nissan, was heading south on Route 1A around 1:25 p.m. when witnesses told police it crossed over into the path of the truck, driven by 57-year-old Nathan Rapp, which was heading north.
Rapp was dead at the scene, according to police.
A 15-year-old passenger in Rapp’s truck was taken to Northern Light Maine Coast Hospital for observation.
Steenstra and his passenger, 79-year-old Virginia Steenstra, were taken to Maine Coast with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Both vehicles sustained extensive front-end damage and Ellsworth Fire Department personnel extricated both drivers.
The crash happened near the U-Store.
“It does not appear that speed or drug or alcohol impairment contributed to the crash,” said police Chief Glenn Moshier in the statement.
Traffic backed up through the city for several hours as a result of the crash, with police diverting cars heading southbound onto the Christian Ridge Road. The road reopened around 4:30 p.m., according to a post on the Ellsworth Police Department Facebook page.
The crash is being investigated by Officer Joshua Steward and will be reconstructed by Sgt. Chad Wilmot of the Ellsworth Police Department.
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