SKOWHEGAN — Two people were injured Monday in a crash on U.S. Route 2 when the driver of an SUV apparently started to fall asleep at the wheel and the vehicle sideswiped a pickup truck hauling a trailer with bags of wood pellets, police said.
A 2016 Mitsubishi utility vehicle is seen wrecked on U.S. Route 2 on Monday after it sideswiped a pickup truck hauling a trailer with bags of wood pellets. Photo courtesy of Skowhegan Police Department
Skowhegan police Chief David Bucknam said Tuesday that when officers from his department arrived at the scene, the SUV driver, Desiree Capizzano, 39, of Cornville, was outside on the ground with injuries she received during the crash.
The police investigation determined Capizzano was driving a 2016 Mitsubishi utility vehicle west on Route 2 when she started to fall asleep, Bucknam said. The SUV drifted across the center line and sideswiped a 2021 Ford F250 pickup truck being driven by John Moore, 47, of Palmyra, whose truck was pulling a trailer with pallets of wood pellets, he said.
The crash occurred west of the entrance to Lake George Regional Park West off Route 2, just east of Lambert Road.
Both Moore and Capizzano were taken by ambulance to Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan, according to Bucknam.
“She hit him on the very front of his truck and went down the side of the truck and trailer with the wood pellets,” he said.
Moore was treated at the scene for what appeared to be minor injuries after the crash, he said.
Bags of wood pellets are seen strewn across U.S. Route 2 following a wreck Monday between an SUV and a truck with a trailer. Photo courtesy of Skowhegan Police Department
Capizzano “appeared to have sustained much more than that,” Bucknam said, “due to the airbag deployment and she had possible internal injuries.”
Both vehicles and the trailer were destroyed and towed from the scene, he said. Officials had to close off Route 2 for a short time so the Skowhegan Highway Department, with a bucket loader, could clear hundreds of pounds of bags of wood pellets from the road, Bucknam said. Both travel lanes were closed to traffic.
Bucknam said he believes Capizzano was heading toward East Ridge Road to go home at the time of the crash. He said Moore was also heading home, to Palmyra, with the load of wood pellets he had just purchased.
The Skowhegan Fire Department also assisted at the scene, according to Bucknam. Police were at the scene about an hour, he said.
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