BANGOR, Maine — Federal prosecutors are looking to upgrade charges filed against a Mount Desert Island man who was involved in a motor vehicle crash two years ago in Acadia National Park.
Justin S. Bent, 27, of Southwest Harbor was charged a year ago in U.S. District Court with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicants, operating a vehicle without due care, and destroying plants. The charges were filed after Bent crashed a van in the park on May 14, 2014.
Additional details about the accident were not available in court documents but, according to a report by the Ellsworth American weekly newspaper, it occurred on Seal Cove Road and involved a 2002 Dodge Caravan crashing into trees.
Federal prosecutors intend to file more serious charges against Bent because a passenger in the van suffered more serious injuries than federal officials initially had realized, according to documents filed in the publicly accessible federal court case online database. The earlier charges are misdemeanors but the expected new charge — operating a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicants and causing serious bodily injury — is a felony, court documents indicate.
According to court documents, a passenger in the vehicle identified only by his initials suffered a compound fracture to his right femur and was flown by LifeFlight helicopter to a Bangor hospital directly after the May 2014 accident. A report by National Park Service rangers who investigated the accident made reference to the injury but did not disclose the long-term impact of that injury, federal prosecutors wrote.
Last October, the U.S. attorney’s office learned that the passenger was paid $97,000 as a result of a settlement in a civil lawsuit he had filed against Bent, court documents indicate.
“A substantial amount of the settlement sum was paid for reimbursement of medical bills,” federal prosecutors wrote.
The passenger now has a titanium rod in his right leg, a scar about a foot long and walks with a limp, according to court documents. He told park rangers in December 2015 that he had three months of physical therapy, suffers from chronic pain and had to quit his job as a caretaker at an inn in Southwest Harbor. Additional surgery may be required, park rangers wrote in a supplemental report.
In January, after considering a request from federal prosecutors, U.S. Magistrate Judge John C. Nivison dismissed the earlier charges without prejudice, clearing the way for prosecutors to file more serious charges against Bent. It is not known when new charges in the case might be filed.
