Jeep crashes into tree - mother, son injured

Photo: Chuck Blaquiere

JEEP CRUSHED — A 1996 Jeep Cherokee, owned and driven by Jessica Thurston, 28, was crushed after severing a utility pole and flying into a 40-foot Maple tree after Thurston fell asleep at the wheel on Friday afternoon, according to Oxford Police Chief Jon Tibbetts.

COUNTY — Fire and police crews rushed to the scene after a vehicle severed a utility pole and crashed into a tree on Route 26 on Friday afternoon.

A 28-year-old woman and her 8-year-old son were injured in the accident.

According to responding emergency officials, the 1996 Jeep Cherokee continued several hundred feet before colliding with a tree and bursting into flames. They surmised that the car had been airborne several times before it landed near the intersection of Routes 26 and 121.

Witnesses were surprised that no tire marks were to be seen on the pavement.

"Flames were everywhere as soon as she hit the tree," claimed a witness, who declined to identify himself. "She was going at a good speed."

"That was a heavy tree," said an employee of Oxford Towing, moments after he pulled the tree off the woman and her son, who had been trapped beneath it.

The car had been traveling off-road for several hundred feet before it landed in the front yard at 518 Main Street. The car hit a 40-foot Maple tree, which landed on the roof and set the Jeep on fire.

"The roof just caved right in," said another witness. "Someone with a fire extinguisher came and put out the flames."

Police Chief Jon Tibbetts confirmed that both mother and son were wearing seatbelts, and that the driver's airbag deployed on the point of impact.

"Luckily, no other vehicles were involved," he said.

Tibbetts said that the accident was still under investigation, but that it appeared the woman had fallen asleep at the wheel and could not control her speed.

Ann Harvey, who lives where the vehicle halted, says that she was walking home when the accident took place.

Neighbors saw and heard the vehicle as it crashed.

"It sure made a lot of noise," said Alberta Keene, a next-door neighbor who was on the scene.

Her neighbor, Bill Begio, said that he witnessed the car "flying" by, as it destroyed a flower bed and a windmill he had placed out for sale on his front lawn moments before.

The traffic at the Welchville intersection of Routes 26 and King Street was backed up for two or three hours while workers from Central Maine Power Co. arrived at the scene to remove the destroyed utility pole and power lines blocking road access north on Route 26.

According to Tibbetts, the mother, Jennifer Thurston, and her 8-year-old son were both treated at Maine Medical Center. Thurston was in good condition on the day of the accident. According to a nursing supervisor, her son who was in the back seat of the time of the accident, remained in a more serious condition.