John Melanphy, 43, of Winslow was hospitalized Thursday after the 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee he was driving veered off Riverside Drive in Vassalboro, rolled over and landed on its roof around 4:15 p.m., according to Vassalboro Fire Chief Walker Thompson. Photo courtesy of Vassalboro Fire Department

VASSALBORO — A Winslow man was hospitalized Thursday after a rollover crash, authorities said Friday.

A single SUV veered off Riverside Drive, which is also U.S. Route 201, and onto its roof around 4:15 p.m., according to Vassalboro Fire Chief Walker Thompson.

The lone occupant of the 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 43-year-old John Melanphy, was unresponsive and trapped inside when firefighters arrived, Thompson said.

“The patient was trapped inside the car due to the fact that it rolled over and due to the amount of damage done to the car. We had to cut the passenger side door off the vehicle to be able to safely remove the patient without causing further injuries.” he said Friday

A LifeFlight of Maine helicopter was initially called to airlift Melanphy to a nearby hospital, but firefighters pried him out of the car and into an ambulance before the helicopter arrived, Thompson said.

The crash was likely caused by a medical event, according to Kennebec County Sheriff’s Lt. Chris Read, whose department took the lead in the investigation.

“A witness behind the car said there was no braking, and the car just went off the road and rolled over,” Read stated in an email. “The witness approached the car, and the driver was unresponsive.”

Melanphy was transported to Augusta’s MaineGeneral Medical Center with “non-life-threatening injuries” by ambulance, Read said.

Thompson praised his department’s quick response, as roughly a dozen volunteer firefighters responded to the scene within five minutes of it being reported.

“We had one of our members at the station at the time of the call, so they got extrication equipment on the road almost immediately, and I think that had a big part of it,” he said.

Traffic along Riverside Drive was restricted to one lane until about 7:30 p.m., when firefighters cleared the scene.

Both the Maine State Police and Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office responded to the crash, Maine State Police spokesperson Shannon Moss said Friday.