WASHINGTON — A medical event is the suspected cause of a single-vehicle car crash that slowed traffic in Washington Sunday morning. 

Route 17 in Washington was down to one lane at times, and completely closed for a few minutes, as Washington Fire tended to the crash, Sunday morning, July 23. This incident was one of several that kept a few Knox County Fire and EMS departments busy during the morning.

Knox County Sheriff’s deputies were alerted at 10:31 a.m. of a 2007 Ford Focus that left the westbound lane, ending up in a ditch and into some trees. The operator, and sole occupant, Stephen Picone, of Framingham, Massachusetts, suffered minor injuries and was transported to Pen Bay Medical Center by Union Ambulance. Based on scene location, it appears that the car had just cleared a bend in the road just east of Jackson’s Corner Store prior to leaving the pavement. Hometown Towing finished pulling the car from the ditch at approximately 11:30 a.m.

Earlier in the morning, St. George Fire and EMS and deputies were called to the vicinity of 664 River Road for a single vehicle that left the roadway and hit some trees. That driver was transported to Pen Bay Medical Center for bumps and bruises. Creek Hill hauled that vehicle away, and as it was en route back to its shop, Knox Regional Communications Center received a vehicle’s automated notification of a crash in South Thomaston, near Drury Lane. A few members of South Thomaston FD, as well as a deputy, searched the area until learning that the notification was from the vehicle involved in the St. George crash.

Not long after, at 9:55 a.m., KRCC received one call regarding a vehicle off the road in South Thomaston. Individual responders scouted the area and came upon a single vehicle on its side in a ditch. The occupant had self extricated and was standing nearby to the 25 Dublin Road location prior to Fire and EMS arrival.

Rockland EMS, North Haven Fire/EMS and Life Flight of Maine, and NorthEast Mobile Health and Camden Rescue, (and possibly other towns), have all responded to medical calls in the same time period.