A Saturday hayride accident in Maine killed 17-year-old Cassidy Charette of Oakland while she was at the hospital Sunday, according to Maine State Public Safety spokesperson Steve McCausland. 22 other people were injured from the evening hayride accident in Maine.
Charette died overnight from head injuries despite being transported by Life Flight to the medical institution.
The hayride accident in Maine happened during the Gauntlet Haunted Night at Harvest Hill Farms on Rt. 26, reports WCSH 6 News Center. The hayride wagon was being pulled by a 1979 Jeep CJ5 when it lost control, careened down the hill, struck a tree and overturned in Mechanic Falls Saturday night, according to Sgt. Joel Davis of the state fire marshal's office.
The resulting crash from the hayride accident in Maine "threw everyone off the trailer and into each other and into trees," said Davis.
According to the Associated Press, the expansive farm is set on a forested hill about 25 miles southwest of Augusta, situated back from a two-lane road. The owners have reportedly been hosting the haunted ride for about five years, said farm spokesman Scott Lansley.
Charette, a member of the girls' soccer team, was with several other students Messalonskee High School during the hayride accident in Maine. Authorities said she was among her friends who visit Harvest Hills Farm every fall.
Officials believe about 30 people was present during the crash.
Twelve to thirteen people were reportedly taken to Central Maine Medical Center and St. Mary's Regional Medical Center in Lewiston. A few more drove themselves to the CMMC, who had 17 patients in total, while one victim of the hayride accident in Maine went to Maine Medical Center in Portland.
St. Mary's hospital in Lewiston said they had 12 patients from the hayride accident in Maine.
According to officials, 7 were treated in the emergency room and released. However, police said some remain hospitalized.
Meanwhile, the 2 most seriously injured from the accident were identified as 16-year-old Connor Garland of Belgrade and 54-year-old Jeep driver David Brown of South Paris.
Garland, who suffered multiple fractures from the hayride accident in Maine, was taken to Boston Children's Hospital, while Brown underwent surgery at CMMC late Saturday. Garland is a member of the Central Maine Owls, a baseball team that won the state championship this year.
On Sunday, Brown was released from the hospital. According to a spokesman for the farm, he is an experienced trucker with a commercial driver's license.
By Sunday afternoon, about a half-dozen other injured people remained in the hospital, but according to Davis, their injuries from the hayride accident in Maine did not appear life-threatening.
The community is planning a fundraiser for Charette's family, said Kathy Mathieu, of Oakland, whose son Zachary is a close friend of Garland's.
"Everybody is doing everything they can to help this family," said Mathieu. "There are no words to express the sorrow for the parents."
Meanwhile, Messalonskee Principal Jon Moody sent a statement to the school community regarding the hayride accident in Maine. He said grief counselors would be available at the school this week.
The Bolduc family, which owns Harvest Hill Farms, also released a brief and emotional statement, saying all their activities would be suspended for the rest of the season due to the hayride accident in Maine.
"We can't even imagine the grief that the families are feeling right now," said Peter Bolduc.
"We are all impacted by this," he said while his children and his wife Kathie stood at his side holding back tears.
According to McCausland, the Fire Marshal's Office is responsible for licensing mechanical amusement rides in Maine. However, the hayride did not need such licensing.
Investigators have reportedly been asking employees, including actors who play parts in the haunted hayride, reports the Boston Globe.
They believe a mechanical problem with the Jeep may have been what caused the hayride accident in Maine, when the driver lost control of the vehicle.
"We've gathered a lot of info on who helped victims," said Davis. "It looks like there was a mechanical issue with the vehicle that caused [the Jeep] to not stop," he told reporters Sunday afternoon.
"The employees here at Harvest Hill did an amazing job. There were employees who administered CPR," he continued.
State Police have impounded the Jeep and are inspecting it to determine the exact cause of the hayride accident in Maine and kept the vehicle from stopping on the hill.
State police were also calculating passengers' weight to know whether the hay wagon had been overloaded and if that had been a factor to the mechanical problem.
The hayride accident in Maine reportedly wasn't the only fatal accident over the weekend. At a fall festival in Chester in northern New Jersey, 40 miles west of Newark, a vehicle also struck several people near a farm. One died from the accident Sunday afternoon, while several others were left injured.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
