FARMINGTON — A Turner driver tried to “thread the needle” by squeezing his pickup truck between a car and logging truck on Route 4 Friday afternoon, police said.

Nathan Harlow, 21, escaped with minor abrasions in his attempt to miss the Ford Escort and Mack tractor-trailer that were stopped ahead of him in the eastbound lanes, police Sgt. Shane Cote said.

Barbara Chassie, 59, of Farmington had stopped to allow a car in front of her Escort to turn left into the parking lot by Fortune Fountain restaurant. At the same time, the empty 2003 Mack logging truck driven by David Campbell, 49, of Patten was approaching on the outside lane beside the Escort, Cote said.

Then Harlow, with a motorcycle in the bed of his 2000 Chevrolet Silverado, came up behind the Escort.

 “(Harlow) was unable to stop in time and tried to ‘thread the needle’ by squeezing into the space between the Escort and the tractor-trailer,” Cote said.

The pickup scraped against the side of the Ford and bumped one of the tractor-trailer’s rear wheels, sending the Chevy spinning around until it stopped on the side of the road, the officer said.

Harlow suffered minor abrasions.

NorthStar EMS paramedics responded as did members of the Farmington Fire Rescue Department.