Debris litters Route 27 in Dresden after a three-car crash that claimed the life of a Portland man and sent four others to the hospital with internal injuries Sunday, Sept. 2. (Photo courtesy Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office)
A Portland man was killed in a three-vehicle crash on Route 27 in Dresden the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 2.
According to a press release from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Andrew Coombs, 33, of Portland, was driving a yellow four-door 2016 Kia Rio southbound on Route 27 near the intersection with Carriage Court around 2:36 p.m. when he crossed into the northbound lane.
In the northbound lane, the Kia struck two oncoming vehicles; a black 2018 Hyundai SUV driven by Brad Reed, 41, of Auburn, followed by a red 2023 Infinity QX55 driven by Megan Higgins, 43, of Augusta.
After being struck by Coombs’s vehicle, both Reed’s and Higgins’ vehicles rolled onto their roofs on the northbound shoulder. Coombs’s vehicle came to rest in the southbound lane.
Coombs did not survive the impact and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the LCSO. Reed, Higgins, and two children in the Higgins vehicle, ages 10 and 11, were all transported to MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in Portland by Wiscasset EMS for treatment of internal injuries.
All involved in the collision were wearing seatbelts. Airbags deployed in all three vehicles.
Route 27 was closed for roughly four hours following the crash, reopening around 6:37 p.m. The cause of the collision remains under investigation. LCSO Deputy Samuel Alexander is the primary investigator. He was assisted at the scene by Dresden, Wiscasset, and Woolwich fire departments, Wiscasset and Brunswick Police
departments, and Lincoln and Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s deputies.
Crash reconstructionists from Lincoln and Sagadahoc County sheriff’s offices and Brunswick Police Department all contributed to the investigation.
