Maine Police Lieutenant, 2 Others Seriously Hurt in a Crash

A police lieutenant from Monmouth, who had his 7-year-old son with him in the car, is one of three people seriously hurt in a head-on crash.

Monmouth Police Lieutenant and His Son Were Headed Home Before the Crash

The Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office says Dana Wessling, 52, of Turner, had just picked his son up at daycare and was headed home at the end of his shift when the crash happened. Wessling is a lieutenant with the Monmouth Police Department, and he was driving his take-home cruiser. The crash was reported at 4:49 Monday afternoon to the Androscoggin County Regional Communications Center.

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3 Adults Were Badly Hurt, but the 7-Year-Old Escaped Serious Injury

Deputies and members of Turner Fire-Rescue responded to the scene and found two vehicles and several people involved in the incident.

• Lieutenant Dana Wessling and his 7-year-old son were in a town-owned Ford Interceptor police cruiser.
• Sean McNeil, 41, of Minot, and a 47-year-old female from Turner were in a Ford F-150 pickup truck.

Wessling was flown via LifeFlight to Maine Medical Center in Portland with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. His son was transported by private vehicle to a local hospital to be examined as a precaution. McNeil and his passenger were both transported to Central Maine Medical Center with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

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Investigators Say a Pickup Truck Crossed the Center Line as It Rounded a Curve

Officials say an initial investigation of the crash indicates that Wessling was traveling west on the Turner Center Road at the time of the incident. McNeil came around a corner, traveling east, when his vehicle crossed the center line and was in Wessling's lane when the two collided head-on. Both vehicles sustained extensive front-end damage and are considered totaled.

This crash remains under investigation.

We'll update this story as more details become available.