Lempster Man Killed After Tractor-Trailer Rear-Ends Stopped Car on I-95

Maine State Police were already heading toward a stopped car on I-95 when a second round of calls confirmed what troopers feared: the vehicle had been struck. Juan Guallpa, 33, of Lempster was pronounced dead at the scene near mile marker 157 in Newport, Maine, at approximately 11:36 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31.

Multiple motorists had called in reports of a 2013 Chevrolet Volt stopped in the northbound travel lane before troopers could reach it. The 2021 Freightliner tractor-trailer struck the Volt from behind, pushing it into the median. The tractor-trailer followed, rolling onto its passenger side and coming to rest across both southbound lanes of the interstate. Both northbound and southbound lanes were shut down following the crash. By Wednesday morning, southbound traffic remained reduced to one lane as crews worked to remove the overturned truck, causing significant delays during the morning commute.

The tractor-trailer's driver was transported to Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield, Maine, for treatment of minor injuries. Shannon Moss, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety, confirmed the fatality Wednesday morning.

Why Guallpa's Volt was stopped in a live travel lane at highway speed remains unknown. Maine State Police Trooper Joshua Staples is leading the investigation, and investigators have not released findings on whether speed, distraction, or impairment played a role in the tractor-trailer driver's inability to stop in time. Anyone with information is asked to contact Trooper Staples directly at 207-973-3700, extension 9.

Guallpa was a resident of Lempster, a rural Sullivan County community of approximately 1,118 people. Families of crash victims in Sullivan County can reach the Victim/Witness Assistance program at (603) 863-8345 for support services and guidance through what follows.

Mile marker 157 in Newport has now been the site of two serious commercial-vehicle incidents within 16 months. On November 5, 2024, a tractor-trailer struck 24-year-old construction worker Charles Miller of Enfield while he placed traffic cones on I-95 southbound near the same location during a Northeast Paving project. Miller survived. That the same precise stretch has drawn two tractor-trailers into emergencies in roughly a year and a half raises pointed questions about nighttime visibility, lane geometry, and driver response times along that corridor that Maine State Police and the Maine Department of Transportation may need to address directly.

Maine's statewide trajectory makes that accounting more urgent. A July 2025 report by TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit, found that Maine traffic fatalities have increased 37 percent over the last decade, a figure that makes crashes like Tuesday night's less anomalous than they should be.

At highway speeds, a vehicle stopped in a travel lane gives approaching drivers only seconds to react, a window that fatigue or distraction can erase entirely. Traffic safety guidelines recommend maintaining a following distance of at least four seconds, with a larger gap after dark or when conditions are unfamiliar. Drivers who spot road hazards on Maine interstates can report them through Maine's 511 traveler information line, reachable by dialing 5-1-1 from any phone in the state.