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Contact: Edie Smith, Spokesperson
Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
284 State Street
41 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333


Telephone: work (207) 592-4348

Fax: (207) 287-6395

February 13, 2011

Massachusetts Man Seriously Injured in Snowmobile Incident

Augusta, Maine - A 38-year-old Massachusetts man was seriously injured while taking his snowmobile out for what his friends called a final spin before loading it onto a trailer to head home.

Chadman Boardman, 38, of Hopedale, Mass., was with friends at a camp on Sawyer Road in Greene when he decided to take another ride at approximately 10:30 a.m. today (Feb. 13) on Sabattus Lake in Greene.

Two of his friends told the Maine Warden Service that Mr. Boardman was going up the lake at approximately 60-70 miles per hour when they saw a large cloud of snow and heard the machine stop about 200 yards off shore, according to MWS Game Warden Rick Stone.

“The conditions on the lake aren’t very good for snowmobiling due to the slushy ice and snow,” said Warden Stone. “It appears that the snowmobile’s front end had broken through the slush causing it to flip end over end.”

The snowmobile, a 2006 Yamaha, went airborne for approximately 30-35 feet before coming to rest upright on top of Mr. Boardman’s waist and legs. When his friends arrived at the scene, Mr. Boardman was not moving or talking, but eventually was able to communicate with them.

Witness Bob Raymond, who was on Sawyer Road, also went to help. They were able to lift the snowmobile off Mr. Boardman, who was laying in about a foot of slush and water.

snowmobile

A snowmobile belonging to Chadman Boardman of Hopedale, Mass., sits in slush on Sabattus Lake in Greene on Sunday. Mr. Boardman was seriously injured when the sled hit slush and went airborne. Photo provided by Maine Warden Service

Greene Fire and Rescue, United Ambulance and an Androscoggin County Sheriff’s deputy responded to the scene. Mr. Boardman was transported to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, before being transported to Maine Medical Center in Portland.

Mr. Boardman suffered a large gash to his head, a fractured skull, a fractured left eye socket, and broken vertebrae in his back and neck.

Mr. Boardman was not wearing a helmet. Speed was a factor in the incident. The incident remains under investigation.