HOWLAND, Maine — One woman was injured Wednesday evening when a large bull moose was struck by three consecutive cars, shutting down Interstate 95 for about 20 minutes.
Alice Russell, 67, of Medway was taken to a Bangor hospital with non life-threatening injuries, Maine State Trooper Jordan Bragan said.
Roy Oldershaw, 62, of Lowell, was headed north on I-95 just before 7 p.m. when a moose jumped in front of his white Kia Forte sedan, Bragan said.
"He hit the moose and it basically went over his car," Bragan said. "It crushed in the roof and the front window."
Oldershaw, who was not injured, pulled to the side of the road, and the moose, which was killed in the crash, landed in the middle of the road.
Russell, driving a blue Volkswagen Beetle, then struck the moose, pushing the moose into the passing lane and sending her car airborne, then rolling several times and landing on its roof in the traveling lane, completely shutting down the interstate.
Russell had to climb out of the passenger-side window to exit the car.
Maci Pond, 21, of Lincoln, then swerved into the traveling lane to avoid the Volkswagen but struck the moose, causing Pond's Chevrolet Equinox to go into the median.
The interstate was shut down for about 20 minutes while all three cars were towed and the moose was removed. Traffic backed up for more than a mile.
Bragan said firefighters gutted the moose at the side of the road in order to move it from the traveling lanes, and in order to save the meat for a local family. Still, he said, even gutted, the moose weighed about 1,000 pounds.
He said such crashes rarely result in only minor injuries, and that Russell was lucky she was wearing her safety belt.
"I can tell you that if she didn't have her seat belt on, with that little Beetle, there's no way she would have made it," he said.
Russell's condition was not available Thursday afternoon.
