ELLSWORTH — A 23-year-old Freedom man died yesterday afternoon when his pickup truck collided head-on with another vehicle on U.S. Route 1 near the Happytown Road intersection.

Ellsworth Police Sergeant Glenn Moshier said Saturday that a westbound Chevy S10 pickup operated by Austin Grant of Freedom drifted over the center line and crashed head-on into a GMC heavy duty truck towing a 28-foot camper-trailer.

Austin was dead at the scene.

The occupants of the GMC, Dale Bartley, 51, and his wife, Catherine, and their 8-year-old granddaughter, sustained minor injuries. They were transported by County Ambulance to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital where they were treated and released.

Moshier said witnesses reported seeing Grant’s vehicle cross over the center line “a couple of times” prior to the collision. He said speed did not appear to be a factor.

Moshier noted that Grant had newly begun work as a lobster fisherman and had been fishing out of Hancock. He said if Grant had put in a full day of fishing and was then homebound at 5:30 p.m. sleepiness may have been a contributing factor.

He said Ellsworth Police Officer Chad Wilmot is undertaking the accident reconstruction.

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