New London — A teenage girl and another woman were brought to the hospital Thursday after their SUV drove through a stop sign at a three-way intersection and went airborne, hitting a tree before coming to rest in growth and underbrush off of Chester Street.

The two women needed to be extricated from the vehicle. Their identities and extent of their injuries is unknown, although bystanders said they believe one person is a student at Waterford High School and the other person is her aunt. New London ambulance brought the women to Lawrence & Memorial Hospital.

The accident happened around 11 a.m. near the corner of Clark Lane and Chester Street. The maroon SUV was driving down Clark Lane when it drove through a stop sign and failed to make the right-hand turn onto Chester; the accident occurred at the New London-Waterford town line.

Christina Knutson of Waterford said she was behind the SUV when it was driving on Clark Lane and said she kept her distance because the SUV was swerving.

Knutson said she thought at first that the driver was fooling around, making S-type loops back and forth although she didn't think it was speeding. Just past Clark Lane Middle School, she said, the SUV actually crossed over the double yellow line and came back. It made a wide arc and actually appeared to accelerate through the stop sign, she said.

Terry Piccolo of Westerly was driving down Chester Street approaching the intersection when she saw the SUV sail across the road in front of her, from left to right and off into the overgrowth.

"I saw this big thing going through the air," Piccolo said, adding later, "It flew. It just looked like it was flying."

There were two cars ahead of her, Piccolo said, amazed that none of them were hit by the SUV. Piccolo said she jumped out of her car and ran into the woods to see whether she could open the doors.

"I could hear a girl yelling, 'Get me out!' " Piccolo said. "I couldn't get the door opened because it was so mangled."

Piccolo said a man in another car who had also run to the SUV was also trying to open the doors and couldn't. She said she could see movement in the car but couldn't see inside because the windshield was smashed.