Police: Tractor Trailer Driver to Blame for Six-Vehicle Accident

Police have released more details about a six-vehicle accident in Washington that killed two people.

The Knox County Sheriff's Office says the accident happened just before 5:00 p.m. Friday afternoon on the Augusta Road, also known as Route 17, near the intersection with Fitch Road.

Responding Deputies found five vehicles that had been involved in a crash, one of which was still burning. Investigators say it appears a Freightliner, loaded with a flatbed of lumber, was traveling west on the Augusta Road. All the other vehicles involved in the crash were traveling east.

The driver of the Freightliner, 53-year-old Randall Weddle of Tennessee, was rounding a right-hand corner just west of the Fitch Road intersection when the trailer portion of the truck began to slide into the opposite lane. It began to roll over on to the left side as it continued to go around the corner.

As it rolled, three of the four vehicles heading the other direction were unable to avoid being hit by the trailer.

The first vehicle hit, driven by 74-year-old Paul Fowles of Owls Head, went off the road to the right after being struck on the left side, and came to rest down an embankment.

The next vehicle to be hit was driven by 51-year-old Tracy Cook of Union. That vehicle rolled over once after going off the road and hit another vehicle driven by 33-year-old Tracy Morgan of Washington. Cook's vehicle ended up back on its wheels. Morgan avoided being hit by the trailer after she took evasive action. Morgan's vehicle was struck by Cook's vehicle as it rolled over.

A Chrysler van was struck by the trailer and the load of lumber being hauled by the truck. The van was pushed back into the field and burst into flames. The Freightliner rolled onto its roof and continued to slide down the road before coming to rest down an embankment.

Morgan wasn't hurt in the crash, while Cook was taken by ambulance to a local hospital. A passenger in the Freightliner, 32-year-old Lowell Babb of Virginia was also taken to the hospital. Weddle was taken by Life-Flight helicopter to Central Maine Medical Center. All were non-life threatening injuries, but it took crews over an hour to get Weddle out of the cab of the truck.

Paul Fowles was pronounced dead at the scene, as was the operator of the van. The name of the van's driver can't be released until the Medical Examiner's Office confirms their identity, because of the extent of the burns received.

Crews were on-scene until 2:30 a.m. cleaning up the debris and getting the vehicles to a secure location. The Knox County Sheriff's Office, Waldo County Sheriff's Office, and the Maine State Police Reconstruction, Mapping, and Commercial Truck Enforcement units will continue to investigate the crash in the days to come to try and figure out exactly what happened.

Fire Departments and Emergency Medical Crews responded quickly from Washington, Jefferson, Somerville, and Union to extinguish the fire and tend to the victims.