A teenage driver was critically injured Friday morning when she crashed her car on the Maine Turnpike in Gray.

Maine State Police say a 17-year-old girl from Minneapolis was driving with a learner’s permit and was carrying a 23-year-old passenger from Lewiston who also did not have a license. The driver lost control when she tried to change lanes just before 7:30 a.m., police said.

Police did not release the name of the driver, citing her age. The 23-year-old passenger, Johoro Ibrahim, was treated for non-life threatening injuries.

The driver apparently did not see another vehicle in the travel lane as she tried to change lanes, then jerked the steering wheel to try to avoid hitting the other car, police said. She overcorrected and went off the highway. The car rolled multiple times, ejecting the driver, before landing on top of the lower half of her body, according to police.

The driver is in critical condition and was taken by Life Flight to Maine Medical Center from Central Maine Medical Center.

Ibrahim sustained a head laceration and was treated at CMMC, police said.

Police said Ibrahim also had a learner’s permit and not a driver’s license. Maine law requires a driver with a permit to drive only with a licensed driver who is at least 20, has more than two years driving experience, holds a valid license, is sitting in the front passenger seat and is not impaired.

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