HARPSWELL — Police say an 18-year-old motorist was killed when he lost control of his car in Harpswell while trying to avoid a deer.

The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department says Cameron Van Vlack of Harpswell died at the scene Wednesday night. Investigators say Van Vlack was alone when his car left the Harpswell Neck Road and hit a tree, causing it to flip before crashing into a second tree.

Investigators say they found fresh deer tracks at the crash site and believe Van Vlack lost control trying to avoid a deer. Speed was also cited as a factor.

According to a report on WMTW/Channel 8’s Web site, Captain Don Goulet of the Cumberland County sheriff’s office said the department received a 10:15 p.m. call about a crash on the Harpswell Road, also known as Route 123.

There, Goulet said they found a 1995 Volkswagen Golf that had been traveling south and had left the roadway, struck one tree that caused it to flip and then hit another on its roof.

Van Vlack was a member of the Mt. Ararat High School hockey team last winter, and was finishing classes in the adult education program for his diploma, according to Mount Ararat High School principal Craig King.

He had attended Mt. Ararat High School for four years, and also participated in the gay-straight alliance, King told WMTW.

According to King, guidance counselors are working with students and a memory board has been put up for students to remember him. Most students knew about the death when they arrived in school on Thursday, he said.