BOWDOINHAM

While the driver of a pickup truck had the misfortune to lose the brakes while driving down Main Street early Wednesday afternoon and ultimately careen through The Town Landing restaurant, everyone who viewed the aftermath as law enforcement officers and firefighters worked to investigate and secure the scene agreed, it was just good no one got hurt.

Chief Deputy Brett Strout of the Sagadahoc County Sheriff ’s Department said the crash was reported at 1:01 p.m. Wednesday. Richard Ellis, 32, of 127 Wildes Road, Bowdoinham, was driving a green 1986 Chevy pickup truck east on Route 125, known locally as Main Street.

Strout said as Ellis was headed down the hill toward the store and he lost his brakes. There was a vehicle traveling south on Route 24. The female driver of that vehicle had the right of way but saw the pickup truck coming and slammed on her brakes within the intersection. Ellis swerved to avoid her, but couldn’t stop the vehicle, which crashed through the store.

Strout said Ellis planned to go straight through the intersection toward the boat launch, but didn’t want to hit the motorist who had stopped in the intersection. He reportedly then tried to turn away from the store and avoid hitting it, but at that point had lost control of the pickup.

Ellis remained on the scene Wednesday as firefighters worked to secure the scene and stabilize the building, while Rick’s Towing removed the truck from the store and loaded it onto a flatbed truck. Ellis declined to comment Wednesday.

There were no reported injuries. Strout said Wednesday afternoon that no charges were filed, but the incident remained under investigation and was handled by Deputy Steve Thibeault.

“We’ve towed the truck and we’re going to have it looked over to ensure it was a brake issue and find the cause of the failure,” he said Wednesday. This morning, however, Strout said the department confirmed there was a break in the brake line that caused the mechanical failure, and the truck was released to Ellis. Strout said he believes the event has been resolved.

In addition to the Sagadahoc County Sheriff ’s Department, Bowdoinham Fire and EMS and Richmond Fire Department personnel were on the scene.

Memorable first visit

Nancy Guite, who is from Florida and lives on East Pond in Oakland, was in Bowdoinham for the first time on Wednesday. She went into the store at 12 Main St. to order a sandwich.

“I was at the counter and I was talking with Michelle (Coyer) and I was saying what a cute little town this is and she said, ‘Oh, you should come here more often, there’s a lot happening.’ And then right after that, BOOM. Everybody just got up and ran. Everybody was so nice. Everybody just took care of everybody. It was amazing.”

Describing the truck crashing through the store, Guite said, “I heard just a horrific crash. It was so loud, and then glass … I couldn’t breath after, and then they were all worried about the propane so they turned that off, and then everybody was just freaking out.”

Guite went to the parking lot next and remembers being worried about where Coyer was, because she had been at the counter. Coyer later told the store owner she was OK but her shoulder hurt a little from jumping back. After the incident, Guite said she couldn’t breath, “it was just really, really heavy. I couldn’t get a deep breath and I was panicked. It took quite a time to register what had happened. You don’t see this very often … I’m just thankful everybody’s OK, especially Michelle. I want to go make sure she’s OK.”

Reason to be here

Lynn Spiro has owned the restaurant for the last nine years and was busy after the crash Wednesday darting in every direction. She stopped long enough during an intensive team cleanup effort to talk to The Times Record and said, “Thank goodness no one got hurt and bottom line, my daughter was OK, my employees are OK and the customers were OK. It could have been a whole heck of a lot worse. And Bowdoinham is Bowdoinham. I need their help and assistance and we’re going to kick right in and start getting things cleaned up so that I can be back and running.”

She had one employee in the store and her daughter, 17- year-old Anna Taglieri, was upstairs, where the two live.

Taglieri said she was upstairs in her room doing homework and could hear screeching, and then felt shaking and thought perhaps someone hit the door, “and I just ran downstairs immediately and didn’t realize that the truck would be in (the store).”

“It’s quite shocking,” Taglieri said. The store and restaurant are the reason she and her mother moved to Maine. “My mom was close with the old owner; we were family friends and she was just ready to sell and when she first offered it to my mom we had just bought a house in Massachusetts.” But when the friend approached her mother a couple years later, Spiro said, “Let’s talk about it,” as her daughter tells the story.

“So nine years ago we moved to Maine for my mom to own this building, and this has been her baby,” Taglieri said. “It’s always been her dream to own her own restaurant, so it’s just a little heartbreaking.”

Helping hands

Bob Kane was one of a group of customers he said were within five minutes of checking out, which would have put them at the counter and possibly within the trajectory of the truck. Brent Zachau said they had stopped to listen to a story a comrade was telling them after having finished their meal.

Both men and many others arrived to help clean up Wednesday, loading up their pickup trucks with splintered wood and bent metal bound for the Recycling Barn and shoveling debris into garbage bags. Brant Miller, Steve Bunn, Royce Andrew Gilliam II, Dawna Bowlin, Sam Cook and still more arrived more than two hours after the incident. Cook came along about three minutes after the crash and as a fellow business owner from Bowdoinham, “I would never not help.”

Spiro looked down at a table top that had been split during the impact: “That’s a shame. That was a wicked old table.”

“It still is. That’s fixable. It’s only one plank,” Kane said.

Zachau added, “We’ll take it to the shop and see what we can do with it.”

“And that’s Bowdoinham,” Spiro said. “That’s Bowdoinham at its best.”

Posted on The Town Landing restaurant Facebook page around 8 p.m. Wednesday: “Thank you Bowdoinham!!! Once again, this community has shown me what ‘community’ means! The great news, no one was hurt today! Lots on the plate to get things back up and running as soon as possible. I will be here at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow morning having coffee with the guys! I may not be doing anything else … we will be doing that!”