FALMOUTH — Police say a Kittery woman was killed Sunday while trying to flag down other vehicles to help with a flat tire on the Maine Turnpike near the Falmouth-Portland line.

In a written statement, Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said 24-year-old Aeriel Rodriguez had pulled into the southbound breakdown lane with a flat tire just after 7 p.m. Sunday.  Rodriguez was out of her car and attempting to flag down other vehicles when she was struck.

“State police had gotten a call or two of a woman waving at traffic, and we had a trooper dispatched to it,” McCausland said. “But the next call was that the woman had been hit.”

The vehicle that struck her was a pickup truck driven by 42-year-old Michael Hawk of Lewiston. McCausland said no charges were filed, since Rodriguez was in the travel lane.

The crash closed the southbound lanes for about two hours Sunday.

staylor@sunjournal.com

Aeriel Rodriguez was a Navy wife, mother (Seacoastonline.com)