PHILLIPS, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- The son of a Maine State Senator is dead after a crash involving his pickup truck in Phillips.
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office said 21-year-old Loren Keim of Dixfield failed to stop a stop sign at the intersection of Weld Road and Rangeley Road. His truck was badly damaged when it ran into the rear axles of a tractor trailer that was driving in the other direction.
The tractor trailer driver was 61-year-old Richard Giles of Jay. Police said Giles told them he had been driving in the passing lane nearer to the center line because the right lane had not been treated for snow. Snow flurries were falling at the time of the crash, and a white dusting had begun to cover the road. Police said weather conditions appear to have contributed to the crash.
Once he was freed from the wreck, Keim was first sent to Franklin Memorial Hospital and later flown to Central Maine Medical Center where he died.
Keim was a senior at the University of Maine at Orono. His mother is State Senator Lisa Keim. Several of her colleagues in the Legislature have sent their condolences.
Senate Pres. Michael Thibodeau released a statement that said, "It is often said that those who serve and work for the Maine Legislature are a part of a large, extended family, and that family now shares the grief of Lisa, her husband, Blue, and their entire family."
Senate Democratic Leader Troy Jackson also reached out to Sen. Keim in a statement that said, "All of us are available to lend our support to her and her family in whatever way we can.”