SKOWHEGAN — A car swerved off Route 201 in Skowhegan on Sunday, crashing into several trees.
Ruth Perkins said she was sitting inside and using the phone when she heard what sounded like an explosion. She rushed outside to see a car had knocked over two pine trees in her front yard and come to a stop after hitting a third tree.
Perkins said when she came outside, there were two people outside the vehicle and one person in the passenger seat. Perkins rushed inside to get shoes, and when she reemerged, the person inside the vehicle was crawling out of a window.
“She had a big gash on her forehead and she was very shaky,” Perkins said. “I think she was in shock.”
Ann-Marie Towle, Perkins’ daughter, said police from Skowhegan and Fairfield arrived, along with Skowhegan firefighters and two ambulances.
One person was taken to the hospital, while another declined medical care, according to Towle.
Skowhegan police said Sunday they were unable to provide additional information about the incident.
Sources said the car was coming from the direction of Waterville and Fairfield, headed toward Skowhegan, when it went off the road and knocked the two trees, scraped bark off of several other trees and destroyed a flower bed and sign that Perkins had next to her driveway.
The loss of the flowers was especially upsetting, Perkins said because they were planted by her husband, who died less than a year ago. Sunday was their wedding anniversary.
Still, Perkins said she was grateful the trees stopped the car.
“Thank god the trees were there,” Perkins said. “They would have definitely been in my house.”
Denise Jones lives across the street and said she also heard the crash from inside her house. She likened the sound to when an 18-wheeler blows a tire, which she said she hears often.
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