A blue 2005 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck crashed into a house on Turner Ridge Road in Somerville the afternoon of Saturday, May 22, leaving the driver with a serious head injury and the house and truck with significant damage.
Gage J. Gagnon, 23, of Belfast, was driving east on Turner Ridge Road when he failed to negotiate a curve. He struck a tree, then ran into the house at 3208 Turner Ridge Road and its deck before the truck came to rest, according to Maine State Police Cpl. Jeremiah Wesbrock.
Delta Ambulance took Gagnon to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta with a serious head injury. The hospital did not respond to inquiries about his condition.
Wesbrock said that Gagnon got out of the truck and started running before falling to the ground in the driveway, where first responders found him.
Wesbrock said the investigation is ongoing, but police suspect that Gagnon was under the influence of drugs. He said a search warrant would be issued to test Gagnon’s blood.
The homeowner, Rob Prescott, was on the roof of the house working when the truck struck the house, moving it about 2 feet, he said. He said he didn’t fall because he was strapped onto the roof.
Prescott estimated that the truck was traveling about 55 or 60 miles per hour.
The Lincoln County Communications Center dispatched the Somerville Fire Department at 12:49 p.m. Somerville firefighters cleared the scene but were dispatched again, along with the Whitefield Fire Department, about an hour after the first call, when Delta Ambulance reported that Gagnon said another person had been driving the truck.
The Maine State Police then used a K-9 unit to verify that only one person had been in the truck when it crashed.
