A three-vehicle crash on Route 3 near the Belmont town line Friday morning sent an elderly woman to the hospital and closed the highway in both directions for about an hour.

Police say 21-year-old Chase McIntire of Belfast was driving westbound in a GMC pickup truck with a trailer when he swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle that was drifting into his lane. McIntire told police he didn't see that the car ahead of him, a Toyota Scion driven by 74-year-old Pauline Hodges of Belmont, had stopped to make a left turn.

McIntire's pickup rear-ended Hodges' car, pushing it into oncoming traffic where it was struck on the passenger side by a Toyota Sequoia SUV driven by Janie Gerrish, 40, of Searsmont.

Waldo County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Jason Trundy said police were not able to identify the vehicle that McIntire saw drifting into his lane.

When emergency workers arrived, Hodges had to be helped out of her badly damaged car to a stretcher and was taken to Waldo County General Hospital with minor injuries. McIntire had superficial injuries to his face. Gerrish and three boys, ages 9 to 14, who were passengers in the vehicle, were uninjured.

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