FREEPORT

A Brunswick man suffered a broken leg and other injuries Monday in a rollover crash on Interstate 295’s northbound side shortly after 10 a.m.

The accident occurred a half-mile south of the Brunswick town line on an uphill righthand curve.

State police said the driver, a 53-year-old man, likely suffered a medical episode that led him to swerve his 2010 Toyota Corolla off the side of the highway, through the gravel-andgrass shoulder, and then carom off a steep wall of ledge that borders the edge of the road.

Fire and rescue crews from Yarmouth and Brunswick were sent to the accident scene to help free the driver, whose name was not released.

The driver sustained a compound fracture to his left femur. Other tests were performed to determine the extent of any internal injuries, but the results were still pending as of Monday afternoon.

After the crash, town and state police diverted traffic onto U.S. Route 1 at exit 24 to clear a landing zone for a LifeFlight helicopter. However, the man was carried to Maine Medical Center in Portland by Freeport Rescue ambulance instead.

“After the helicopter landed, the (crew) determined that they couldn’t transport him by air,” State Trooper Doug Cropper said. “He’s a large man, and with three other flight crew members, they would have been over the helicopter’s weight restrictions.”

Instead, the helicopter’s medical officers traveled with the victim in the ambulance.

Traffic was backed up for 1.5 miles until about 11:15 a.m., when state police reopened both lanes.

jtleonard@timesrecord.com