By Abigail W. Adams
An excavator was needed to remove a 1990 GMC Sierra that hit a DOT road sign and several trees before coming to a rest on its side several feet off the road on Route 1 in Wiscasset Oct. 1. The accident is thought to have occurred between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 27 but was not reported until Thursday, Oct. 1 when the owner called Wiscasset police asking where they had towed his car. (Abigail Adams photo)
Both lanes of Route 1 in Wiscasset were temporarily closed as a vehicle was pulled from the woods at approximately 3:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 1 in the vicinity of Norm’s Used Cars. The accident is thought to have occurred between 1 a.m. to 3 a.m., Sunday, Sept. 27, Wiscasset Police Chief Troy Cline said.
However, law enforcement was not alerted about the accident until the vehicle’s owner, Bryan Tillson, 32, of Whitefield, called the Wiscasset Police Department on Oct. 1 to ask where police towed his car to, Cline said.
An excavator was needed to dislodge the 1990 GMC Sierra from the woods on the southbound side of Route 1 across from Norm’s Used Cars. The vehicle took out a DOT road sign and struck several trees before coming to a rest on its side several feet into the woods, Cline said.
The vehicle suffered substantial damage to its front end and passenger side. ‘We’re lucky no one got killed,” Cline said. The Wiscasset Fire Department directed traffic and assisted Lincoln County towing in removing the car from the woods.
According to Tillson, his friend from Waterville was driving at the time of the accident and he was asleep in the passenger seat. The two were returning from West Gardiner, Tillson said.
Tillson believes his friend must have been lost, because they were returning to Tillson’s home in Whitefield, he said.
Tillson is unsure how he was transported from the scene of the accident. ‘It’s all very vague,” Tillson said. ‘I hit my head hard.” Tillson said he believes his father picked him up at the accident scene and transported him home, but he is unsure.
According to Tillson, he did not really wake up until he was transported to the hospital, on either Sunday or Monday, by Delta Ambulance Service. Tillson broke his neck in two places and is in a body brace, he said.
‘I really don’t remember a lot,” Tillson said.
According to Cline, the police department has opened a criminal investigation into the unreported accident.
