3 riders taken to hospital after crash involving trolley taking Bangor voters to polls 

2022-09-10 03:23:07 By : Ms. Anne Zhang

Maine news, sports, politics, election results, and obituaries

This story will be updated.

Three people riding Bangor’s Community Connector trolley to the polls Tuesday morning were taken to the hospital following a crash involving the trolley and a flatbed truck outside the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter on Main Street.

The crash happened at around 10:20 a.m. Officers at the nearby Bangor police station immediately responded after hearing a loud crash, said Sgt. Wade Betters, the department’s public information officer.

They looked out the window and saw that the city trolley bus had collided with a flatbed truck.

He said it wasn’t exactly clear how the crash occurred and that police were investigating.

The trolley was transporting residents from Pickering Square to the polls at the Cross Insurance Center for free, Community Connector Bus Superintendent Laurie Linscott said. While the trolley is out of service due to the crash, a bus has taken its place.

From left (clockwise): A Community Connector bus hit vehicles in the parking lot of the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter after colliding with a truck on Main Street in Bangor Tuesday; A Community Connector bus and a truck collided on Main Street in Bangor in front of the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter on Tuesday; A city bus and truck collided on Main Street in Bangor in front of the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter where the trolley also hit parked vehicles. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik | BDN

Community Connector staff were waiting for more details about the crash to emerge from the police investigation, Linscott said.

There were several passengers on the trolley at the time the crash happened. The injuries were not serious, Betters said.

The crash damaged the front end of the bus service’s trolley-style shuttle bus, which ended up in the parking lot next to the shelter, where some parked vehicles were also damaged.

The Bangor Fire Department was at the scene within seconds and began rendering first aid to passengers on the trolley who said they were injured, Betters said.

Bangor shut down Cedar Street between First and Main streets to clean up the crash, according to a post on the city’s Facebook page. 

Two lanes of traffic outside of the shelter were blocked, but traffic could still use the road. The entry onto Main Street from Railroad Street was also blocked off by a squad car.

Betters said around 11:20 a.m. that some lanes near the crash area on Main Street would be shut down for at least another hour as police investigate.

BDN staffers Emily Burnham and Linda Coan O’Kresik contributed to this report.