LEWISTON — A Harrison man charged in the hit-and-run death of a 21-year-old woman from Paris was released from jail Friday morning, hours before he was scheduled to appear in court.
Kevin T. Scribner, 27, of 378 Plains Road, posted $5,000 cash bail at Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn after two nights behind bars.
He was arrested Wednesday on a charge of aggravated leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury or death. The charge is a Class C crime, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
Scribner was arrested hours after state crime lab tests revealed blood found on his 2012 F-250 Ford pickup truck matched that of Brittany Stanhope, who was struck and killed on Route 117 in Turner on Sept. 19.
Scribner had told police he thought he had hit a deer that night. He also said he had been texting on his cellphone just before the crash, according to a police affidavit.
A spokesman for the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that the case would be turned over to the Androscoggin County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
In cases involving felony charges, prosecutors will present evidence to a county grand jury to determine whether charges are to be brought.
Androscoggin County District Attorney Andrew Robinson said Friday that his office was waiting for the criminal investigation to be completed, including the examination of evidence by the Maine State Police Crime Lab.
He said prosecutors will seek an opportunity to meet with the family of Brittany Stanhope.
Robinson declined to say whether his office would be presenting Scribner’s case to the Androscoggin County grand jury, which is expected to meet next week. Grand juries meet at the beginning of each month in Androscoggin County.
Stanhope was driving toward Buckfield when her car developed a problem. She pulled the 2004 Chrysler Sebring onto the shoulder of the road as far as she could, with the driver’s side tire on the fog line, authorities said. She got out of the car and opened the rear passenger door on the driver’s side to get her purse when she was sideswiped by a truck traveling in the same direction shortly before 9 p.m., according to the accident report.
According to a police affidavit, Scribner learned the following morning from news reports of a fatal accident on the road he had driven the night before. A member of Scribner’s family called police, after urging him to talk to authorities, saying, “It was the right thing to do,” according to court records.
He had told his parents the night of the crash that he thought he had hit a deer as he was blinded by the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. When the family inspected the damage to Scribner’s truck, his father asked whether he might have hit a sign instead because there was no deer hair on his son’s truck. Scribner replied: “I don’t know what I hit,” according to court papers.
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
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