HOPE, Maine — No charges will be filed against a rock collector in connection with the death of a Camden man killed last June when a large rock crashed through his windshield while he was driving on Route 17.
Knox County District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau declined Friday to explain why he decided not to file charges, but said that the family of the victim, 73-year-old James Nash, had been notified of his decision.
Nash was killed June 9 while driving east on Route 17 when a 6- to 8-inch-diameter rock went through the windshield and struck him in the head. He died instantly. His wife, Marilyn Nash, was treated for minor injuries at Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport and released the evening of the crash.
Police investigated whether the rock had fallen off the trunk of a 1999 Saab driven by rock collector Myles Felch, according to an affidavit for a search warrant on the Saab filed in court last year by Detective Dwight Burtis of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office.
A few days after the accident, according to the affidavit, a witness reported to the sheriff’s office that he had helped two young men collect rocks on property near the intersection of Routes 17 and 90 in Rockport on June 9 before the fatal incident.
The witness said he remembered Felch placing one rock on the trunk of the car while the others were placed on a trailer. The rocks were being collected by Felch and the other man to be taken to the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum in Bethel. The witness had reported Felch was driving the car, according to the affidavit.
After receiving this information, the sheriff’s office spoke with Felch and showed him a photograph of the rock. Felch said he did not recognize it and that it was not the type of rock he would want for the museum, according to the affidavit. He also denied placing a rock on the trunk of the car. The sheriff’s office interviewed the witness from Rockport again, who identified the rock as the one Felch put on the back of the trunk, the affidavit states. Police went back to Felch, who again denied placing the rock on the trunk.
Detective Burtis was granted the search warrant and the vehicle was seized on June 22 and taken to the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory in Augusta. An inspection of the car showed new scratch marks on the rear spoiler of the car, the hatchback window and the rear left side of the car, according to documents later filed with the court by the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office indicated last September that a final investigative report would be submitted to the district attorney after the crime lab finished its analysis of the rock.
Lt. Reginald Walker of the sheriff’s office said Friday that the analysis could not connect the rock to Felch.
Felch’s attorney, Walter McKee of Augusta, said Friday that the investigation found no evidence at all to connect his client to the accident.
“This case,” he said, “proves that you can never, never jump to conclusions.”