News Updates
Updates posted throughout the day.

Police identify man killed in turnpike crash

By Edward D. Murphy Portland Press Herald Staff Writer January 14, 2009 10:27 AM

The man who died after his van hit a guardrail and flew into the opposite lane of the Maine Turnpike on Tuesday has been identified as Liszek Twarog, 55, of Worcester, Mass., state police said.

The accident occurred Tuesday morning just south of the Biddeford interchange on the highway. Twarog's northbound van veered into the guardrail and flew into the southbound lane where it clipped a pickup truck and was hit by an SUV. Twarog was thrown out of the van by the impact and the van came down on him, said Steve McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Twarog was not identified publicly until this morning because police were informing relatives.

McCausland said police still don't know why Twarog's van veered off the travel lanes.

A woman driving the SUV and four of her passengers, including three young children, suffered minor injuries in the accident. The driver of the pickup was not injured.

Copyright 2008 Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.