A vehicle carrying three people crashed into the frozen Crooked River Monday afternoon, as a result of a road rage incident, according to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.

The crash occurred around 1 p.m. on a bridge on Route 302 at the Casco-Naples line, according to Capt. Don Goulet.

“The vehicle actually crossed the road and hit the guardrail snow bank and went airborne and never really hit the ground until it crashed through the ice,” Goulet said.

Goulet declined to release the names of the drivers and passengers involved, due to a pending criminal investigation. According to Goulet, all three of the vehicle occupants freed themselves from the car, which was almost entirely submerged in 4 and 1/2 feet of water, and then swam to land. They were subsequently transported to Bridgton Hospital for minor injuries and hypothermia. A witness helped the occupants escape the crashed vehicle that had New Hampshire license plates, Goulet said.

According to Goulet the occupants of the vehicle were involved in a road rage incident minutes before with a pickup truck displaying Massachusetts plates and operated by a lone driver. The two were traveling on Route 302 in Casco, several miles east toward Raymond of the eventual crash site. Goulet declined to elaborate on the road rage incident, only saying that both drivers were male. He also declined to say whether the pickup truck driver had forced the other car off the bridge and into the Crooked River.

“One of the vehicle’s occupants was on the phone with dispatch when they went into the water,” Goulet said.

The criminal investigation could result in felony charges, including reckless conduct with a motor vehicle or assault with a deadly weapon, Goulet said.

“If the cars intentionally hit each other, the car is the deadly weapon and the assault is the injury to the parties involved,” he said.

The vehicle that crashed into the Crooked River was removed with a crane, Goulet said. The sheriff’s department has seized both vehicles as evidence, he said.

Public safety vehicles converged on the bridge over the Crooked River on Route 302 Monday afternoon after a road rage incident involving two vehicles, one of which careened off the road into the river.Staff photo by Cyndy Bell