AUBURN — A Turner man who crashed his pickup truck into a Turner building in August 2013 was indicted earlier this month by an Androscoggin County grand jury on two felony charges.
Joseph T. McLafferty, 21, of 230 Fish St. faces counts of aggravated criminal operating under the influence and driving to endanger. Both charges are Class C, each punishable by up to five years in prison.
The charges stem from an investigation into an incident on Aug. 28, 2013, by Maine State Police trooper Elgin Physic. He wrote in a sworn affidavit that he arrived at 419 Center St. in Turner shortly after 2 a.m. to find a pickup truck crashed into a building. The truck’s passenger, Cassandra Bubier, 23, had been trapped in the truck and had to be removed by emergency responders, Physic wrote. A witness at the scene told him that the driver was unconscious when she arrived. She said Bubier hadn’t been able to speak because she had been in so much pain. McLafferty was helped out of the truck.
He wasn’t able to remember much about the accident, wrote Physic, who interviewed McLafferty in an ambulance. Physic wrote that he could smell intoxicants on McLafferty’s breath. Physic dispatched a trooper to the hospital to draw blood from McLafferty to test for blood-alcohol content.
Physic wrote that he didn’t notice any skid marks made by the truck McLafferty had been driving.
Doctors at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston had induced a coma for Bubier’s health and safety, Physic wrote, explaining why he couldn’t interview her. She reportedly had broken bones.
According to other witnesses Physic interviewed, McLafferty had been drinking with three other people before the crash. One of the witnesses told Physic that McLafferty “drank a lot” and was “going fast” in his truck before the crash.
A first responder at the scene of the crash told Physic that he smelled intoxicants on McLafferty’s breath.
Physic’s affidavit was intended to secure a warrant for Bubier’s medical records as they related to the crash.
McLafferty is expected to appear in Androscoggin County Superior Court at the end of the month to respond to the charges.
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
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