FARMINGTON – A Lincoln man accused of crashing his vehicle while intoxicated with two friends inside was in court today, for the first of what is anticipated to be a week-long manslaughter trial.
Ryan Hurd, 23, of Lincoln, has been indicted on charges of manslaughter, a Class A felony, and aggravated operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class B felony. Police say that Hurd was operating his 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix when it went off the road, sheared through a telephone pole and flipped upside down, bursting into flames.
Terry Richardson, Jr., 34, of Dover-Foxcroft, was killed as a result of the crash. Also trapped in the car was Chad Bernier, of Medway, who was extricated by New Vineyard Fire Department personnel and transported to Central Maine Medical Center, in Lewiston, via a LifeFlight helicopter.
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Assistant District Attorney James Andrews and Attorney Richard Hartley, of Bangor, gave their opening statements today. Both seemed to agree that the case essentially will come down to who was driving the vehicle; while Andrews and the police maintain that Hurd was operating the vehicle, Hartley said the defense intends to prove that Hurd was just a passenger.
Only the first of several witnesses for the state testified today. The defense has not presented its own witnesses yet.
The chronology of the early evening is relatively straightforward. Hurd, Bernier and Richardson were coworkers, employed by a metal fabrication company and working on the construction of the Poland Spring Bottling Plant in Kingfield on Oct. 16, 2007. That evening, after finishing their work, the three went to Farmington. Over the next few hours, both the state and defense agree, the three consumed a large amount of alcohol.
Eventually, at roughly 12:30 a.m. on Oct 17, 2007, they left The Dugout Bar & Grill. A witness testified that the three had clearly been drinking, and had indicated in causal conversation that Hurd was going to drive. The witness, who warned them not to drive while intoxicated, did not see them actually get in their car, but heard it accelerate away.
At roughly 1:20 a.m., Michael Dubay, who lives along Route 2, a couple miles south of the village area, heard a loud noise and went out to the front of his property. There, he said, he heard yelling, swearing and someone complaining of a “broken leg.” He also saw the chrome detailing of a vehicle on the side of the road. Dubay called the dispatch center who alerted emergency personnel.
Dubay then found the man who had been yelling, walking up his driveway. He told the man, who he identified in court as being Hurd, to sit down in a lawn chair and wait for an ambulance.
“He was very intoxicated,” Dubay said today. “Very intoxicated. No question about that.”
The car, which was upside-down, then caught on fire. Dubay called 911 again, and while talking to the dispatcher, lost sight of Hurd.
The first officers on the scene were Farmington Police Department’s Sgt. Shane Cote and then-Officer Edward Hastings, who arrived just after 1:30 a.m. In video provided by a cruiser-mounted video camera, the two officers attempted to control the fire in the car with small extinguishers. Hastings said that he could see someone inside.
“I could hear a person screaming and see someone moving in the car,” he said.
New Vineyard fire engines and NorthStar ambulances began to arrive. Crews were able to put the fire out in a few minutes, and began extricating the two men. At this point, Hastings said, it became clear that Richardson, who was leaning halfway out of the front window, was deceased. Bernier, who was still alive, was trapped between the driver’s seat and back seats, in the upside-down vehicle.
Throughout all of this, emergency personnel testified that Hurd was standing off to the side and asking questions. New Vineyard Fire Department’s Douglas Churchill said that a man approached him and asked what had happened. NorthStar paramedic Stan Wilcox, called to the scene, asked Hurd if he had been in an accident. Hurd said he hadn’t, but had heard yelling from behind Dubay’s residence. Emergency personnel began to search the area.
Eventually, Hurd is found and questioned by Maine State Police Trooper Joshua Birmingham, the lead investigator on the case. Afterwards, while being transported to Franklin Memorial Hospital, Wilcox testified that Hurd repeatedly said “they made me drive” and “I hope I didn’t kill them.”
Hurd arrived at the hospital and had blood taken at roughly 3:19 a.m. by Wilcox under the supervision of Cote. According to the state, that blood was tested at a level of .22, nearly three times the legal limit.
While Hurd was being treated, Cote said that Hurd, while not asked any questions, admitted to driving the car.
“The forced me to drive,” Cote recalled Hurd saying. “I might have just killed one of my friends because they forced me to drive.”
Dr. Gregory Marshall, who works both as a surgeon at FMH and as the county’s medical examiner, later determined that Richardson had died as a result of blunt force trauma sustained in the accident.
While Andrews says the evidence indicates that Hurd was actively misleading emergency personnel and clearly was the driver, Hartley said the behavior instead indicates that Hurd was in a state of shock, as a result of the accident and a night of heavy drinking, and that he was not the driver. Hartley intends to have expert witnesses testify on the physics of the crash and on “blackouts,” where long-term memory is impaired through the use of alcohol. The state has its own expert witness on automobile accidents, who will likely testify later this week.
Bernier, the other survivor of the accident, is expected to testify tomorrow.
