A Windsor woman was taken by helicopter to a hospital with serious injuries Monday after the vehicle she was driving slammed into the rear of an empty school bus parked on the shoulder of Route 3.
The Suzuki driven by Melissa Guilfoyle was wedged beneath the Vassalboro School District bus so tightly that a crane had to be used to lift the rear end of the bus before emergency responders could rescue Guilfoyle from her vehi
Officers flagged down the crane, which was from Augusta construction company Lajoie Bros., as it drove by on Route 3.
“That was the only way we were getting her out of there,” said Sgt. David Bucknam of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office, one of several departments that responded to the accident.
Minutes before the accident, bus driver David Jacques, who has been driving a school bus for 35 years, parked on the eastbound shoulder of Route 3. He went into Dollar Deals, a dollar store, to buy himself a soda. Jacques said he was not on duty at the time.
Jacques and store cashier Michael Bray said they heard a loud bang around 2 p.m.
Bray called 911 while Jacques ran out to the bus, grabbed a fire extinguisher and used it to put out a small fire in the engine compartment of the Suzuki.
With nearly the entire car crammed beneath the bus, he said, it was impossible to tell who might be inside.
“I looked into the car and I couldn’t even see her,” he said. “I didn’t want to see.”
Bray said he heard no squeal of brakes before the impact, which was not as loud as he would have guessed once he saw the extent of the damage. “I didn’t think anybody would live through it,” he said.
A Windsor woman was taken by helicopter to a hospital with serious injuries Monday after the vehicle she was driving slammed into the rear of an empty school bus parked on the shoulder of Route 3.
The Suzuki driven by Melissa Guilfoyle was wedged beneath the Vassalboro School District bus so tightly that a crane had to be used to lift the rear end of the bus before emergency responders could rescue Guilfoyle from her vehi
Officers flagged down the crane, which was from Augusta construction company Lajoie Bros., as it drove by on Route 3.
“That was the only way we were getting her out of there,” said Sgt. David Bucknam of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office, one of several departments that responded to the accident.
Minutes before the accident, bus driver David Jacques, who has been driving a school bus for 35 years, parked on the eastbound shoulder of Route 3. He went into Dollar Deals, a dollar store, to buy himself a soda. Jacques said he was not on duty at the time.
Jacques and store cashier Michael Bray said they heard a loud bang around 2 p.m.
Bray called 911 while Jacques ran out to the bus, grabbed a fire extinguisher and used it to put out a small fire in the engine compartment of the Suzuki.
With nearly the entire car crammed beneath the bus, he said, it was impossible to tell who might be inside.
“I looked into the car and I couldn’t even see her,” he said. “I didn’t want to see.”
Bray said he heard no squeal of brakes before the impact, which was not as loud as he would have guessed once he saw the extent of the damage. “I didn’t think anybody would live through it,” he said.
Leave a Reply