FARMINGTON — A Franklin County justice sentenced a New Portland woman Monday to serve 90 days for giving a false report to police after a local woman was killed by a car Jan. 1, 2016.
Taylor Gaboury, 21, was walking on Routes 2 and 4, nearly across from the entrance to Franklin Memorial Hospital, when she was struck and killed by a car driven by Tommy Clark, 26, of Industry.
Clark is serving three years of a seven-year sentence for a conviction of operating under the influence causing death.
His girlfriend, Nikita Tolman, 27, had stayed behind near the accident and called 911 at about 1:40 a.m. She reported finding a boot in the road, which led to finding Gaboury’s body over the embankment. Tolman was Clark’s girlfriend at the time. Clark had driven to a nearby motel.
It turned out that Tolman had been a passenger in the vehicle. She tried to warn Clark that someone was in the road, but it was too late.
Tolman pleaded guilty to the charge of filing a public false report on June 9. It carried up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
She was not forthright and honest with police after the accident, Assistant District Attorney Claire Andrews told Justice Robert Mullen in Franklin County Superior Court. Clark attempted to flee, but police quickly found him, she said.
Gaboury’s father, Ricky Gaboury of Farmington, held a large framed photo of his daughter in court as he addressed Tolman.
A terrible accident occurred Jan. 1, 2016, which changed “our family forever,” and changed this community forever, Gaboury said.
Other choices could have been made that night, he said.
Instead of taking his daughter to the emergency room of the hospital, a choice was made to fabricate a story so that the driver could get away, he said.
If the situation had been reversed, Gaboury would have made sure that Tolman got the care she needed, he said.
Cody Gaboury, Taylor’s brother, said he sat through Clark’s sentencing of three years and Tolman’s sentencing.
“I have completely lost faith in the justice system,” he said.
Mullen asked Andrews if anything could have been done to save Taylor Gaboury.
Nothing could be done, Andrews said. The coroner’s report said the death occurred at the time of impact.
An autopsy report said significant head trauma caused Gaboury’s near-instantaneous death.
Tolman’s defense attorney, Christopher Berryment, said his client was deeply remorseful and knows nothing she can say can change what happened.
Tolman said she wished she could take everyone’s pain away and take back what happened. If she could trade places with Gaboury, she would, she said.
“There is nothing I can say to make anyone’s life easier,” she said. “I messed up. I made bad choices.”
Andrews said that Tolman had no prior criminal record.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
Send questions/comments to the editors.
