LEEDS, Maine — Reconstruction efforts in a collision that claimed the lives of a father and son on Tuesday have revealed the man who was killed did not cross the centerline, the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.
Lt. Glenn Holt said in a statement Ralph Ryder, 59, of Livermore, who was traveling east on Route 202, crossed the centerline and collided with a westbound Honda operated by Ghislain Cloutier, 49, of Winthrop. Cloutier’s 14-year-old son Casey was a passenger.
“The reconstruction process, as well as the re-interview of the witness and other interviews of the accident investigation have revealed that the vehicles were traveling in the opposite directions than earlier stated and that Mr. Ryder was the one that crossed the center line and not Mr. Cloutier,” Holt said in the statement. “The accident investigation has revealed that the preliminary information that we had released on the day of the accident was inaccurate.”
Police stated on Tuesday that Cloutier was traveling east toward Augusta and his vehicle had crossed the centerline into Ryder’s path.
Both Cloutiers were killed in the crash. Ryder was released from Central Maine Medical Center on New Year’s Eve, according to Holt.
Casey Cloutier was a freshman at St. Dominic Academy who played on the school’s junior varsity hockey team.
“We go through a number of detailed steps of an investigation like this to make sure that the end result is that the report is accurate and correct,” Holt said.
The crash remains under investigation.
