Tractor-trailer strikes Maine State Police cruiser on turnpike in Kittery
Mar. 16—A tractor-trailer struck a Maine State Police cruiser stopped in the turnpike's breakdown lane Wednesday morning.
Johnny Rogers, 52, of Canastota, New York, was charged with failure to move over for an emergency vehicle and distracted driving, according to Katy England, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Rogers was driving south on the turnpike about 9:20 a.m. when he drifted into the breakdown lane, near mile marker 1, where Trooper Robert Flynn was stopped with his emergency lights on for a flatbed truck that was being towed for a mechanical issue, England said Wednesday.
Rogers hit Flynn's cruiser before veering back across the travel lanes to the far left, where he struck a Jeep Cherokee and pinned it against the concrete median barrier, according to England.
England said the tow truck driver was behind the flatbed truck when the collision happened and "miraculously" was uninjured. Flynn, the Jeep's occupants and the flatbed truck driver suffered only minor injuries and were taken to Portsmouth Regional Hospital in New Hampshire.
