One man seriously injured, dog dead in Ogunquit turnpike accident
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Whiskey, one of the dogs being transported in the truck involved in the highway track, is still missing. PHOTO COURTESY OF OGUNQUIT FIRE DEPARTMENT
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OGUNQUIT — A passenger riding in a car on the Maine Turnpike is seriously injured after the driver of the vehicle fell asleep at the wheel.
Maine State Troopers responded to a crash at mile marker 14 Northbound in Ogunquit on the Maine Turnpike around 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 14, according to a press release from Maine Department of Public Safety Spokeswoman Shannon Moss.
William Funkhouser, 38, of Baker, West Virginia was driving a 2021 Toyota Tacoma northbound on the Turnpike when he fell asleep and swerved his pickup truck into the middle lane and swiped a tractor-trailer. The crash caused the pickup truck to roll over several times, said Moss.
Funkhouser’s passenger, 23-year-old Jonah Hose, also of Baker, West Virginia was ejected from the vehicle, said Moss. He was not wearing a seatbelt.
Hose suffered serious injuries and was transported to a Portsmouth, New Hampshire hospital, said Moss.
Funkhouser and the driver of the tractor-trailer were not injured. At the time of the crash, Funkhouser was transporting 10 dogs in a steel cage in the back of the pickup truck, said Moss. One dog was found deceased at the scene, another was taken to the veterinarian and one dog, named Whiskey, remains missing, according to the Ogunquit Fire Department.
Lane 3 was shut down to traffic while the crash was reconstructed and has since been reopened.
The crash remains under investigation.
Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.