ELIOT, Maine (WMTW) – A teenage girl in Eliot, Maine, is recovering after she was the victim of a hit-and-run that left her unconscious in a ditch on Wednesday.
The older driver is now facing charges.
Police say the girl was found by her own sister.
The incident happened Wednesday afternoon at about 3:30 p.m. along Worster Road.
Police say the 13-year-old was walking along the side of the road to meet her sister at the bus stop.
Before the bus came, police say 82-year-old Leon Benton drove by.
“He indicated to us that he had fallen asleep and then was jolted after he heard the mirror hit something,” Sergeant Ron Lund, with the Eliot Police Department, said. “He thought he hit a tree along the side of the roadway.”
While the 13-year-old was left unconscious in a cold ditch, her sister discovered her about 20 minutes later after her bus eventually dropped her off.
“Found her sister in the ditch,” Lund added. “She was able to get her home and the mom called us once they got home.”
Officers responded to the scene, discovered the vehicle debris and traced it back to Benton, who lives nearby up the road.
“That’s something that’s still part of the investigation,” Lund said when asked if the driver felt bad for leaving the crash scene.
The sergeant said the teen girl is “good.”
“She was transported to Portsmouth Regional Hospital. She underwent a lot of tests, some pain obviously from getting hit by the vehicle,” Lund said. “Literally one second earlier and she could have been run over completely.”
The driver was charged with leaving the scene of a personal injury accident. He’s due in court in April.
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