FREEPORT — Two Cumberland residents were hospitalized and treated for serious injuries after a head-on collision Thursday afternoon on Durham Road in Freeport.

A LifeFlight helicopter flew the driver Wayne Ross, 56, to Maine Medical Center in Portland. An ambulance rushed his wife, Margaret Smith, 53, to the same hospital.

The other driver, 45-year-old Susan Muniak, of 20 Poland Road, Freeport, was charged with elevated aggravated assault, aggravated reckless conduct and operating under the influence resulting in injury or death. Police also charged her with operating under the influence with one prior and violation of condition of release.

Freeport Police Sgt. John Perrino said that speed was not believed to be a factor in the crash and that OUI charges are still pending the results of a blood test.

Perrino also said that investigators found drugs in Muniak’s vehicle, though information about the type or amount of drugs was not immediately available.

Perrino said the charges of aggravated assault and aggravated reckless conduct resulted from Muniak allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road, leading to a head-on collision near 87 Durham Road that mangled the 1993 Toyota Corolla driven by Ross.

When Freeport firefighters arrived at the scene just before 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Smith was standing outside of the vehicle with Ross still trapped inside. After 45 minutes, rescuers were able to extricate Ross from the car using hydraulic rescue equipment, , Deputy Chief Paul Conley of the Freeport Fire Department said today.

Firefighters spent 45 minutes extricating the man from the Toyota, using hydraulic rescue equipment to cut away the roof, cut the floor panels and lift the dashboard off the man’s lap, Conley said.

The prolonged extrication, as well as a severe laceration to his right arm and potential internal injuries, prompted firefighters to call a LifeFlight helicopter, which responded from Lewiston and landed in a field about a quarter-mile from the scene.

Conley said Ross was fortunate that “some good Samaritans” stopped at the crash before rescue personnel arrived and wrapped his arm with a blanket to stop the bleeding.

Conley praised Freeport and Durham rescue crews for “working extremely well together” in what he described as “a significant, serious accident.”
Following the collision, Muniak was transported to Parkview Adventist Medical Center in Brunswick for treatment, then taken into custody at Cumberland County Jail, , where she remained this morning on $100,000 bail.

Muniak is scheduled to appear in Portland Superior Court later today, an official at Cumberland County Jail said.

Route 136 — also known as Durham Road — was closed from the intersection of Route 125 to just past the crash for at least an hour.