A work crew cleans up debris following a two vehicle crash on Route 1 in Wiscasset Wednesday, May 31. The crash destroyed a mobile home that was being transported north to Boggs Mobile Homes in Warren and sent one of the two operators involved to the hospital with life threatening injuries. (Johnathan Riley photo)
Route 1 in Wiscasset was closed for roughly six hours Wednesday morning, May 31, after a traffic crash in the vicinity of 342 Bath Road.
According to Wiscasset Police Chief Larry Hesseltine, the crash occurred around 5:20 a.m. when a southbound 2011 Ford Mustang, operated by Ryan Graffam, 25, of Friendship, crossed the centerline and made contact with a northbound 1992 Peterbuilt tractor-trailer operated by Ronald Cunliffe, 33, of Marble, Penn. Cunliffe was transporting a mobile home to Boggs Mobile Homes in Warren.
According to Hesseltine, Cunliffe was advised by his flagging vehicle, which was traveling ahead of him, to watch out for a Ford hugging the center line. Cunliffe observed Graffam’s vehicle approaching and pulled over as far as possible to the right to avoid a head on collision.
Graffam’s vehicle missed the Peterbuilt but struck the left front corner of the mobile home and continued down the side of the mobile home, until it struck the rear axle to trailer. The collision separated the axle from the trailer and deflected the Mustang away from the mobile home, eventually coming to rest against a guardrail.
Graffam sustained life threatening injuries in the crash. He was extricated from his vehicle by the Wiscasset Fire Department and transported to Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick by Wiscasset EMS. He was subsequently transported by LifeFlight to Maine Medical Center in Portland. As of this update, his condition is unknown.
During the period Route 1 was closed, traffic was rerouted around the scene via Old Bath Road. The mobile home was subsequently demolished at the scene and removed in several dumpsters to clear the roadway.
Wiscasset Police were assisted at the scene by Wiscasset fire and EMS personnel, a Maine State Police Commercial Vehicle Unit, the Maine Department of Transportation, the Lincoln County District Attorney’s office, and the Sagadahoc County Sherriff’s Office, which provide a crash reconstruction team.
Wiscasset Police Officer Daniel Prouty and Sgt. Perry Hatch are conducting the accident investigation.
