6 injured after truck crashes into Ellsworth Dollar Tree

ELLSWORTH, Maine (WABI) - Six people were taken to the hospital after a man drove his pick-up through the store front of The Dollar Tree in Ellsworth.

They say at 1:30 Monday afternoon an 80-year-old man was trying to pull his truck into a parking spot in front of the store, when he continued on, side-swiped another parked vehicle, and then went through the building.

Police say the driver, passenger and four others were taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries.

Police say the incident does not appear to be alcohol-related or caused by a medical emergency.

They are investigating whether this was human error or a mechanical malfunction of the pickup truck.

”I was over there looking at something, and all of a sudden I heard this horrible noise. I thought maybe they’d dropped their boxes on the ground, because they had these boxes that they were trying to unload. And I heard screaming and hollering, and I went over and looked, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, there’s a truck in here.’ And there was smoke coming in. And then I came out to get in my car, and that’s what my car looked like. You know, you see it on videos. You don’t see it for real. But unfortunately today we did,” said Evelyn Wehrfritz, Seal Cove resident.

“There were people in there shopping, workers at the cash registers when the vehicle entered, so yeah, emotions were high. There’s a lot of things going on. We’re going to continue to investigate the scene until we can find an explanation,” said Capt. Shawn Willey, Ellsworth Police.

The truck was removed from the store just after 3 p.m. Monday.

Police say the store remains closed due to structural damage.

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