Operator dead, rider injured in motorcycle-truck collision

WAKEFIELD - A 24-year-old Maine man died on Saturday when the motorcycle he was riding collided with a pickup truck on Route 153.

Town Police Chief John Ventura said the Suzuki street bike was headed south with a passenger in the area of the 900 mark on Province Lake Road when for an unknown reason it laid down in its lane before skidding into the opposite lane where it collided with the northbound pickup.

The driver of the F250 pickup tried desperately to avoid the bike but ended up colliding with it, Ventura said today.

Both the rider and his passenger, a 14-year-old boy, were transported to the Paul School where they were Medflighted in separate helicopters.

Unfortunately, the operator of the bike died soon afterward, Ventura said, while the teenage boy suffered serious injury and was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine, where he is expected to survive.

They are both from Saco, Maine.

Ventura said alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the crash. He said it is department policy not to release the names of crash victims.