Emergency personnel work at the site of a hayride rollover that injured multiple people Harvest Hill Farms in Mechanic Falls on Route 126, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014.MECHANIC FALLS, Maine – A Halloween-themed hayride loaded with passengers crashed down a hill in the Maine woods and slammed into a tree, fatally injuring a teenage girl and leaving more than 20 other people hurt, police said Sunday.
Seventeen-year-old Cassidy Charette of Oakland died from her injuries after the Gauntlet Haunted Night Ride wagon overturned Saturday night at a rural farm in Mechanic Falls, authorities said.
The crash “threw everyone off the trailer and into each other and into trees,” said Sgt. Joel Davis of the state fire marshal’s office. He said a mechanical problem prevented the SUV pulling the wagon from stopping.
Several actors participating in the ride’s scenes assisted the injured riders — including some performing CPR — and likely helped prevent the accident from being even worse, Davis said.
About a half-dozen of those hurt remained hospitalized Sunday afternoon but their injuries did not appear life-threatening, Davis said.