2024

On Monday, December 9, 2024, at approximately 6:55 AM, the Bangor Regional Communications Center took multiple reports of a serious personal injury crash on I-95 at mile-marker 181 in Bangor. Upon arrival, Troopers from Troop I found several motorists rendering aid to the male driver of a vehicle who had been ejected and was lying on the roadway. The driver was alive and talking.

Bangor Fire and EMS arrived on scene and took over care for the male operator, who was identified as 25-year-old Kenneth Cartledge of Beverly, Massachusetts. Cartledge was transported to Eastern Maine Medical Center where he is listed in serious but stable condition.

The initial investigation indicates that the Cartledge was traveling southbound when he lost control of his 2002 Ford F-250 pickup before crossing the center median and entering the northbound lane of travel. After entering the northbound lane, Cartledge’s vehicle overturned, and he was ejected. He was not wearing a seatbelt. The vehicle ended up on its side, in the northbound lane, blocking both lanes of travel. This resulted in a traffic back-up and later a full shutdown.

Initial findings indicate Cartledge was driving too fast for road conditions. Troop I was assisted on scene by the Northern Field Troop, Bangor Fire Department, and Union Street Towing.

On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, at approximately 9:30 AM, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from a hunter who discovered an adult deceased male near the Schmid Land Preserve on Old County Road in Edgecomb.

Detectives with the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit Central responded to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death. The deceased was transported to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta where an autopsy will be performed to determine cause and manner of death and to positively identify the deceased.

The investigation continues. Additional information will be released when it becomes available.

On Wednesday, December 4, 2024, at approximately 1:27 PM the Bangor Regional Communication Center received multiple calls reporting a crash involving a tanker truck and a dump truck at mile 49 in West Gardiner.

Troopers from Troop I and the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit responded to the scene and learned a truck operated by Dube Transport INC of Sidney, Maine, and driven by 61-year-old Allen Hewett of Sidney, Maine was traveling north on I-295 in West Gardiner. At the same time maintenance crews from the Maine Turnpike Authority were working to pick up a lane closure that had been in place for toll plaza repairs. The Maine Turnpike workers were in the process of collecting cones and were using a dump truck equipped with a crash attenuator trailer to shield the workers from approaching vehicles.

Hewett, traveling in the same lane as the Turnpike workers failed to yield as required by law and move over for the slowed maintenance truck, and crashed directly into the crash attenuator. The truck driven by Hewett rolled over and careened into the cable guardrail, spilling nearly all 8000 gallons of its landfill leachate aka “dirty water”. The Maine Turnpike truck was severely damaged and landed across both northbound highway lanes.

The driver of the Maine Turnpike truck received minor injuries and was transported to Maine General Hospital in Augusta for treatment. Hewett was issued a citation for failing to maintain control of a motor vehicle and failing to yield to a highway maintenance vehicle.

The State Police were assisted on scene by Maine DOT, Maine Turnpike Authority, Maine DEP, Gardiner Police and Fire Department, Dube Transport INC, and AC Towing.

On Thursday, November 21, 2024, at approximately 11:35 PM, the Westbrook Police Department received a call for a medical emergency at 34 Lamb Street. Westbrook Police and Westbrook Rescue arrived and located 59-year-old Robert Seger unresponsive in a bedroom. First responders attempted to render aid and transported Seger to Maine Medical Center in Portland where he later succumbed to his injuries. Seger had suffered multiple blunt force injuries.

His roommate, the 911 caller, 47-year-old James Fowler, said they had an argument, and he left and came back. The Westbrook Police Department requested the assistance of the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit South to investigate the death of Robert Seger.

The Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit, Maine State Police Evidence Response Team, and the Westbrook Police Department continued to investigate Seger’s death and process the scene at 34 Lamb Street. The Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta conducted an autopsy and determined the manner of death homicide and the cause of death blunt force trauma injuries.

An arrest warrant was obtained for 47-year-old James Fowler of Westbrook. Fowler was arrested at approximately 7:35 PM on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, at 34 Lamb Street for Depraved Indifference Murder and transported to the Cumberland County Jail.

On December 2, 2024, at approximately 7:25 AM, Troopers from Troop I responded to a two vehicle crash southbound on I-295 in the town of Freeport near mile 22. The crash involved a 2018 Volkswagen and a 2024 Toyota. The Toyota was going from the right lane to the left lane and struck the Volkswagen. This caused the Volkswagen to go to the left and strike the guardrail. The Toyota rolled onto its roof coming to final rest in the middle of the interstate.

The driver of the Toyota was transported by Freeport Rescue to Maine Medical Center in Portland for non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the Volkswagen had minor complaint of pain but declined transport. Other than a brief stoppage, traffic was able to get by the scene in a third lane that was a merging lane from the exit 22 on-ramp.

Troopers were assisted on scene by Freeport PD, Freeport Fire & Rescue, Maine DOT, and Atlantic Coast Towing.