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By DOUG HARLOW
Staff Writer 12/19/2007

enlarge Staff photo by David Leaming

VICTIMS: Delta ambulance and rescue personnel prepare teenage victims to transport to the hospital following a head- on accident involving two vehicles on Kennedy Memorial Drive in Oakland on Tuesday. Seven people including five Messalonskee students were injured.

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Both cars were destroyed, according to Oakland police Capt. Rick Stubbert. The accident happened just before 11 a.m.

He said excessive speed appears to have been a factor in the accident and charges could be brought against the 17-year-old driver of a black 1992 Honda Civic.

The Honda reportedly struck a white 2005 Ford Taurus, driven by Maureen Blodgett, 57, of Benton. She and her husband, Terry Blodgett, also 57, were taken to a hospital by Delta Ambulance.

In total, four of the injured were taken to Waterville hospitals in ambulances. Three others were taken to the hospital by their parents, according to Oakland firefighters at the scene. Firefighters and police said none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.

"Nobody was seriously injured," Stubbert said.

Traffic was rerouted around the scene, up Swan Hill from the Oakland side of KMD and down Old Waterville Road from the city end of the accident, while rescue workers and paramedics tended to the injured. KMD was closed to traffic in both directions for about 45 minutes.

Stubbert said five high school students were in the Honda Civic heading toward Waterville when the driver apparently lost control on sand or gravel left over from Sunday's snowstorm.

"The black vehicle was traveling toward Waterville at a high rate of speed and he lost control of the vehicle, did a 360 and spun into the oncoming lane, where it made contact with the white vehicle -- they hit head-on," Stubbert said. "The driver said he overcompensated and went into a spin after hitting some loose gravel."

Blodgett's car was traveling in the other direction, toward Oakland.

Police declined to name the 17-year-old driver, who is from Belgrade, because he is a juvenile facing possible criminal charges.

The accident was still under investigation Tuesday afternoon. Oakland police Officer Steve Corbett is in charge of the investigation.

Passengers in the Honda were: Mitchell Wight, 18, of Belgrade; Nicholas Workman, 17, of Oakland; Daniel Witham, 17, of Smithfield; and Benjamin Pooler, 17, of Belgrade. Stubbert said Pooler and Wight were taken to the hospital by ambulance.

The windshield of the Honda was blown into the car by the force of the collision, the roof bent by the impact. Both cars had extensive front-end damage.

"It looked a lot worse than it was -- it could have been a lot worse," Stubbert said.

Doug Harlow -- 861-9244

dharlow@centralmaine.com

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