Two crashes caused by the same man

By Lisa Williams Ackley

Staff Writer

NAPLES — Police say a 21-year-old man from Woburn, Massachusetts was responsible for causing two motor vehicle accidents here Friday night — with three people being seriously injured in the second one that occurred as he was trying to flee the scene of the first crash.

As a result of the second accident in which two vehicles collided head-on, the operator of the other vehicle, 55-year-old Catherine R. Carter, of Harrison, was airlifted by LifeFlight of Maine to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston with life-threatening injuries, police said. Carter was listed in "good condition" on Tuesday morning, according to a CMMC spokesperson.

Just before 6 p.m. on July 6, deputies from the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene of a reported hit and run accident on Route 35 in Harrison near the intersection of Cape Monday Road. As a deputy responded to the first accident, dispatchers received a second 9-1-1 call reporting a two-vehicle head-on collision in Naples approximately one mile from the first crash, according to Captain Don Goulet.

Police said a southbound 2001 Toyota Camry operated by Shane Faulkingham crossed the center line of Route 35 and collided head-on with a 1996 Ford Ranger pickup truck driven by Christopher Matthews, 29, of Westbrook. Both Matthews and his passenger, Bruce O'Donal, 38, of Naples, sustained minor injuries, according to Captain Don Goulet of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office.

As he was attempting to speed away from the first accident scene, Capt. Goulet said, Faulkingham lost control of his vehicle and it crossed the center line striking Carter's northbound 2004 Pontiac Grand Am head-on.

Faulkingham and his passenger, 20-year-old Randall W. Parker, of Woburn, Mass., who both had to be extricated, were transported to Bridgton Hospital. Faulkingham was later transferred to CMMC where he was listed in "fair condition" on July 10, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Police are investigating whether alcohol and speed were factors in the two crashes, both of which remain under investigation.