CAR CRASH ON PARK LOOP ROAD LEAVES THREE DEAD - 2019

On August 31, in the early hours at around 3 a.m. a car left the Park Loop Road, rolling well off the roadway and ending up a ways into the woods. First reports from the scene was that there was four individuals in the car, all of which were non responsive. At one point early on there was a call over the radio that CPR was now in progress on one of the victims. By the time other ambulances arrived it was determined three of the occupants in the car were deceased, with their bodies still trapped in the wreckage. A photo of the wreck shows a car with no roof which suffered extensive damage. As of this writing police are still trying to determine what caused the crash, and that section of the One Way Section of the Park Loop Road remained closed all that night and much of the following day. At around 3;30 p.m.  of Aug. 31, a hearse was seen making its way down along Kebo Street heading into the area of the crash. With three dead, this appears to be one of the worse crashes to have occurred in Acadia National Park, at least in my memory. A sign of just how severe the accident was can be found in the fact that life flight had not been called. The names of the three people who were deceased at the scene of the crash have not been released as to date.

I just got back from the crash site, which was further up the Park Loop Road than I thought.  As your driving along the One Way section of the Park Loop Road you will round a corner and approach a stone bridge with a sign before the bridge for the Gorge Path.  The car left the roadway about 5 to 6 car lengths before that sign, and appears to have started to roll when it crashed into a very large thick tree.  The tire marks lead to that tree, and the tree is missing a good amount of bark and has deep gashes in it.  The car then appears to have traveled a very short distance before plowing into a fairly good size white birch, which was pretty much ripped up out of the ground, it is leaning badly with its roots exposed.  Nearby is broken glass from the car windows, a few pieces of the car, and just in the trees is one of the car mirrors.
Marking where the car tires left the road was two ANP emergency cones, and just up the road before the crash site was a speed trailer letting people know how fast they are going.  The crash scene was on the right hand side of the road as your approaching the bridge, though it is not easy to spot until you see the large tree with the missing bark and deep slashes in it.

Large tree - second view

Photo of Bridge shot from crash scene

Large tree with damage from impact

UPDATE;

Federal authorities have now filed criminal charges against Praneeth Manubolu, the driver of the car that rolled over early Saturday morning, killing three people inside the car.    According to papers filed in court, Manubolu had been drinking and was driving too fast to make the curve when the accident occurred.

Manubolu himself called the police and reported the accident at around 2;47 a.m. Saturday and police used GPS from his phone call to locate the crash scene.

Police found Manubolu outside of the car with a few cuts and scrapes and police detected the strong odor of alcoholic beverages, according to court papers.  

Manubolu told police him and his friends had been drinking in Bar Harbor and that when they left the bar his friends wanted him to drive.

Manubolu allegedly told a park ranger that he lost control of his vehicle on a curve and hit a tree.

“Praneeth Manubolu made additional statements about being intoxicated,” Dominy wrote. “He further stated one of his passengers warned him about a curve coming up in the roadway, but that he failed to slow down in time.”

Six hours after the accident police could still smell a strong odor of alcohol on Manubolu.

The three passengers who died in the accident were identified as Lenny Fuchs, 36, Laura Leong, 30, and Zeeshan Mohammed, 27, all of New York City.