SHIRLEY, Maine — There likely won’t be any charges filed against the driver who struck and killed a pedestrian on Route 15 earlier this month.
“It’s not been completely decided, [but] I don’t think there’s going to be” any charges filed, Piscataquis County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said Tuesday.
Norman Pelletier, 67, of Shirley was walking on Route 15 when he was struck by a car driven by John Ponkala, also of Shirley, just before 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, according to Piscataquis County sheriff’s Lt. Bob Young.
Pelletier was pronounced dead at the scene.
Young said Ponkala fell asleep at the wheel as he and his two passengers were returning from a shopping trip.
“It looks like the driver fell asleep,” said Almy. “He wasn’t intoxicated and he wasn’t speeding.”
The speed limit on that section of road, three miles south of the Greenville town line, is 55 mph.
“Based upon my experience in these types of cases, unless you have intoxication or speeding way, way over the speed limit, it doesn’t meet the threshold of criminal negligence,” said Almy.
According to Young, Pelletier was wearing a reflective vest that evening. He regularly walked on Route 15.
According to his obituary, Pelletier attended Northeastern University before graduating from the University of Maine at Farmington in 1969. After serving in the Vietnam War, he began a teaching career in Greenville and the surrounding area for 35 years. He retired from teaching in 2004 but continued to work for the Maine Education Association.
He played football while he attended Kings Point Maritime Academy in New York. He also played semiprofessional football on the East Coast and even played in the Canadian Football League. During his teaching career, he coached football and basketball and was also a basketball official.
Pelletier is survived by his wife of 44 years, Deborah Pelletier; a son, Todd; and two grandchildren, Haley and Jordan.
So he won’t even be charged with leaving the scene of an accident?
nope. as long as you have not been drinking you can leave the scene after killing someone and
not face charges
That’s not true. Leaving the scene of an accident with serious bodily injury is very serious. What is lacking is Just Cause. You cannot penalize anybody under the law without Just Cause (not to be confused with Probable Cause). I think an affirmative defense was he didn’t know he hit anybody, anybody was hurt, or even that he hit anything. His passengers thought he hit something and called 911 once they got home a few feet up the road. I don’t know if they had cell phones, but they weren’t driving and cell coverage is lousy out there.
NEXT TIME YOUR TIRED AND DRIVING…DONT STOP
if you hit and kill someone…’you will not be charged’
He accidentally ran over his next door neighbor he knew for years from shopping and fell asleep right before he got home. Do you know where Shirley is? It’s a long drive to Bangor or Newport. It’s almost in Moosehead Lake. Mr. Ponkala is an accomplished architect and solid family man. He wasn’t out goofing around, speeding, drinking, or anything else. He fell asleep. I don’t remember ever falling asleep behind the wheel, but I do remember waking up behind the wheel a few times in my many years and there but for the grace of God go I.
no one is above the law…manslaughter
yes Almy’s setting a precedent
good ole Maine Judicial System at its best….what a joke
Something smells here and it’s not yesterdays catch. They could at least charge the driver with the favorite used in other states,”failure to control”. This is absurd.
Yawn, it’s a stretch. Chipapio9 said, “They could at least charge the driver with the favorite used in other states,”failure to control”. This is absurd.”
The goal in this case is fact finding and justice. The truth is, an accident is an accident. It’s not about knocking yourself out trying to find ways to charge people based on Maine Revised Statutes or suggesting that Maine doesn’t have enough statutes (trust me, we have too many).
Last year my brother got in an accident while having a heart attack. Thank God he didn’t kill or even hurt anyone, but he did hit a car head on on his way to the hospital. He needed 5 stints put in. Almy wouldn’t drop the charges, despite the medical situation and he had to pay a huge fine. In addition, he was just plain mean to us in the courthouse waiting room. He was not professional at all and wouldn’t even look at our documentation. I used to like him. The situation in this article is tragic. Despite there being no charges, this man will have to live with this for the rest of his life.
I am sorry for your experience with Almy. Unfortunately, its all too common. When he decides he is going to prosecute, he just doesn’t hear common sense. So sad that he doesn’t have any compassion.
You’re supposed to call 911 and go by ambulance, not drive to the hospital when you are having a heart attack that requires 5 stints. Sorry that happened to him and he made a very bad choice and paid the consequences, but his situation is not the same as someone who did not know he was in distress before getting behind the wheel and only fell asleep.
So what you’re saying is it is not ok to try and save your own life, but it is ok to not know signs of fatigue and kill someone else? What? “Only fell asleep”? Again, “what???”
Do people really think we all know when we are falling asleep? And if you don’t know, how can you be guilty? Maybe passenger cars and trucks should all be outfitted with deadmans’ brakes. Trains all are thusly equipped. Fall asleep and your car automatically parks you safely on the side of the road with your emergency flashers going and a 911 signal with a recorded message with GPS information is transmitted. Mandatory standard equipment? It’s not the stretch some might think. Or should we just keep punish people for falling asleep?
You do know that not all heart attacks present with obviously serious symptoms at first, right?
And that people do not know they will eventually need 5 stints until a long battery of medical teats right?
I have a friend whose heart attack just felt like indigestion for the first half hour, and yeah he ended up with a bunch of stints too.
Using your questionable “logic” we should all immediately call 9-11 every time we get indigestion.
I know! That’s what Almy said! lol. My brother has no common sense and no cell phone. I think he learned his lesson though. A hefty fine and points on your license tends to do that :) And as tyke said below, he didn’t know at the time he was having a heart attack. It was his first one.
I was only reminding folks of the expectation that you call an ambulance rather than drive if you are in a compromised state. I don’t know the facts of your brother’s situation, but if he had a heart attack behind the wheel that is corroborated by a doctor’s bill for five stints, and he didn’t know he was having a heart attack, I don’t agree with punishing your brother either. I’m not going to respond to tyke because it’s obvious he’s not interested.
Sounds like Almy needs his job. That’s the beginning of the end for anyone of us. Or maybe there’s something I don’t know. I’ve seen more of him seeking lesser charges and making deals. I’ve never seen him go the other way. But the right political threat might push anyone of us…
He didn’t leave the scene of the accident. He was Mr. Pelletier’s neighbor. If he was not drinking, and was not speeding than, what can you charge him with?
Say, just for a second, that Mr. Pelletier hadn’t been hit, he wasn’t drinking and he wasn’t speeding and there was no damage to the vehicle?…..what do you charge him with then?
Now we can talk about Mr Pelletier being on or around a roadway, or we can talk about this driver being tired, not speeding and not drunk…….or we can say exactly what it was. It was an accident, and I’m sure Mr. Ponkla will be lamenting that day for the rest of his life.
Not everyone is a malicious, pre-meditating killer. And don’t even bother asking, yes I have lost my son in an accident that did involve speed and alcohol, and Chris Almy prosecuted and convicted the driver.
What??????? the guy fell asleep and if i remember correctly he waited till he got home to call the police……
Someone or something isn’t right here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yawn, he ran over the neighbor as he was arriving home on a long boring road from almost Moosehead Lake, didn’t know he’d hit anything but the passengers thought he did and called 911.
If you need to satisfy yourself, drive from Bangor to Shirley in the dark, in the rain and let us know what you think.
Keep blathering. It still won’t make it right.
What do you want a cookie? Jesus, people drive long distances in the dark all the time. Matter in fact I just drove 5 hours home in the dark from Maine to NH. Get a life!
Don’t get me wrong, I have no idea whether he should be charged or not, not my job and I don’t know if there is precedent.
I’m not a judge, lawyer, or involved anyway in the law profession so I don’t know if this type of accident has happened before. But I do know there are driving restrictions for truck drivers so they do not drive when they are tired!!!! I have drove to Greenville -Moosehead Lake area many times on that road, from the summer time to snow storms, driving summer winter or fall I’m always looking out for things such as wildlife in the road. He hit a person wearing a reflective vest! This is Maine, many roads in Maine are dark, curvy, hilly and even worse in the winter!
I hope the family sues!!!
someone has the $ to buy out of this is my only thought….
Ponkala is a hands on laborer/family man. He couldn’t buy his way out of a speeding ticket. So that’s not it.
Seriuosly, has anyone here ever fallen asleep at the wheel. I have! It takes about 3 to 5 seconds to end up wrapped around a tree if you do. Then we are supposed to believe that the driver fell asleep at the exact time the innocent pedestrian was walking down the road and incidentally hit the guy and that woke him up? I was born at night just not last night. You might not be able to win Almy but please don’t tell me you buy that line of BS. C’Mon man.
What is your issue? People don’t remember falling asleep behind the wheel. They remember waking up behind the wheel. I have woken up behind the wheel enough times to know you’re logic makes no sense. Not enough people in jail for you yet? It was an accident.
Keep blathering. It still won’t make it right.
You need to come up with a different (and more intelligent) response.
Yeah, what Klondowski said.
This would be a different headline if it was a truck driver.
Depends on whether that ruck driver was breaking the law by driving more hours than allowed.
Oh really now ??? Seems like you can fall asleep behind the wheel of any form of transportation and kill someone in this state and not be prosecuted :-/
http://www.pressherald.com/Trucker-will-not-be-charged-in-fatal-crash-.html
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2011/12/07/news/mid-maine/no-charges-to-be-filed-in-fatal-accident-that-killed-boy-in-jackman/
These families knew each other very well, and believe me Mr. Ponkala is suffering. I have driven that stretch of road into Greenville, and even if you aren’t fatigued you become so just by driving that stretch. It is a long peaceful stretch of route 15. Please show some compassion to both of these families, there is nothing anyone can say or do to make people act or speak more humanely but we can pray that there are hearts in those heartless chests. Rest in peace Mr. Pelletier. God be with Mr Ponkala as he struggles with this.
Falling asleep while driving IS neglegence. Hasnt anyone seen the tests they have done showing that driving tired is just as bad as driving drunk?? If a babysitter fell asleep and something happend to the child they would be held liable, why not a sleepy driver?
Tragic.
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder
The driver is guilty of the above….someone contact the AG’s office…the fix is in…
To busy redecorating the million dollar court house for any legal nonsense Three people in the car-were they all sleeping?