February 28

Truck smashes up flower shop in Skowhegan

Green pickup truck seen fleeing the area

By Doug Harlow dharlow@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

SKOWHEGAN -- Workers at a local greenhouse and flower shop were picking up the pieces Thursday after they say a pickup truck slammed into the building, smashing the wall and sending glass and ceramic merchandise flying.

click image to enlarge

Boynton's Greenhouse Manager Ellen Withee picks up inventory that was knocked down after a truck slammed and punctured a wall at the Skowhegan business on Wednesday evening. Withee said she believes there may be $5,000 worth of damage.

Staff photo by David Leaming

The front of the truck ended up inside the store, said Boynton's Greenhouse manager Ellen Withee.

"The pickup truck that hit us must have been going pretty fast, because it actually pushed the whole entire wall in," Withee said. "The cold air is coming in through the wall. It compromised the corner of the building."

She said a contractor examined the damage Thursday and is drawing up an estimate. The building and the business, owned by Withee's parents, Lee and Marcia Granville, were insured.

Withee said the greenhouse parking lot and driveway are used as a short-cut for motorists going from Madison Avenue onto Spring Street, which connects with Russell Road to Madison.

Withee said a neighbor heard the truck hit the building and saw a green pickup truck back up, away from the building, and speed off. They called Skowhegan police.

Investigators found broken bits and pieces of the vehicle, but no truck and no suspects. Deputy Chief Dan Summers, of the Skowhegan police, who has been in charge since the departure of former Chief Michael Emmons, did not return calls Thursday for details on the incident.

"They found pieces from the front of the truck, like the light casings and things like that, and followed the tracks because it was snowy," Withee said. "They pursued up the Russell Road and had the Madison PD come down from the other end, but they didn't find anybody.

"Our building has been hit by a snowplow before, and it did not compare to this."

Withee said 49 ceramic vases and several more glass vases and teacups were destroyed by the force of the crash into the store shelves.

"The stuff that flew off of the shelves flew about 15 feet," she said. "We are just real lucky that we were closed."

Doug Harlow -- 612-2367
dharlow@centralmaine.com

 

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