(NECN: Amy Sinclair) - Police in midcoast Maine are trying to determine what caused a horrifying accident on a crowded wharf Sunday afternoon that took the life of a Cohasset, Mass. boy and seriously injured his mother, brother and another pedestrian.
Authorities say 9-year-old Dylan Gold died, and his mother Allison and 6-year-old brother Wyatt remain hospitalized.
Police say a New York City woman plowed her car into several vehicles, a building and four people as a crowd of travelers was getting ready to board the 3 p.m. ferry to Monhegan Island.
"For an unknown reason, the operator lost control and accelerated hitting a vehicle, then a building, and a pedestrian who was trying to get out of the way," said Chief Deputy Tim Carroll with the Knox County Sheriff's Department.
"He tried to jump out of the way when she hit the building, but he just went down," says Lisa Dickson recalling her stepfather Jonathan "Joss" Coggeshall's efforts to avoid getting hit outside the Monhegan Boat Line ticket office.
Coggeshall suffered a fractured hip and head injury.
After hitting him, the 2007 Infiniti kept going with air bags deployed, plowing into a half dozen parked cars and the Gold family of Cohasset, who were about to board the ferry for a family vacation.
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Dylan Gold died in the ambulance en route to a waiting LifeFlight helicopter. Wyatt Gold and Allison Gold are being treated for serious injuries at Maine Medical Center.
Police say Howard Gold, the father, was still in the family's van at the time. He was not injured.
"It's always tragic when a life is lost, but with a 9-year-old, It's really difficult," says Carroll.
The driver, Cheryl Torgerson, 61, of New York, NY, who was also heading to Monhegan, was not injured. She tells police she doesn't know what happened. Blood test results are pending.
Police say the Infiniti is equipped with a black box similar to those that are found on airplanes. It will help specialists determine what happened in the moments leading up to the crash and help determine whether this was a case of operator error or mechanical malfunction.
For the longtime owners of the Wharf and Boat Line, the loss is painful.
"Oh it's horrifying. Nothing like this has ever happened to us," says Captain Jim Barstow. "The wife and I were both crying on the way here."
Coggeshall is listed in fair condition.
The results of the driver's blood test could take several days.
