Fifteen People Injured In Bridgewater Head-on Crash

A head-on crash in Bridgewater today resulted in 15 people being injured, including several inmates and teenagers.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland says the accident took place at around 7:30 a.m. on Bunker Hill in Bridgewater. A van belonging to the Full Gospel Assembly of Mars Hill spun out, striking a van owned by the Aroostook County Sheriff's Office. The sheriff's transport van had nine inmates headed to court in either Presque Isle or Caribou. The church van contained some adults, but mostly teenagers. Injuries included broken bones, lacerations, bumps, bruises, and complaints of pain. Some of the injured had to be extricated from the vans by the fire department. Both vans were demolished.

Six ambulances were called to the scene to take the injured to the hospitals. One of the ambulances was involved in its own accident when it was unable to stop on the icy road near the original crash site. The ambulance from Houlton didn't have any patients on it at the time and sideswiped a car, ending up off the road. An EMT on that ambulance had minor injuries.

About a dozen other crashes took place Thursday in Aroostook County, because of high winds that caused white-out conditions. They took place in Westfield, Caswell, Easton, Monticello, and Nashville Plantation. There were some injuries in those accidents, but none were life-threatening.