ROCKLAND, Maine — A Tennessee trucker accused of speeding and driving drunk has been indicted on manslaughter charges in connection with the deaths of two people killed in a March crash.
Randall Junior Weddle, 54, of Greeneville, Tennessee, was indicted on 15 counts by a grand jury that met this week in Knox County Unified Court. The most serious charges in the indictment released Friday are two counts of manslaughter related to the March 18 crash in Washington, which claimed the lives of Christina Torres-York, 45, of Warren and Paul Fowles, 74, of Owls Head.
Weddle also was indicted on three counts of aggravated operating under the influence, two counts of driving to endanger and eight counts of various trucking rule violations.
Weddle has been held at the Knox County Jail in Rockland since he was brought to Maine following his arrest in Virginia last month. Bail is set at $100,000 cash.
The maximum possible sentence for manslaughter is 30 years in prison.
He is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges on June 22.
Attorney David Paris of Bath was appointed by the court last month to represent Weddle, after Weddle waived extradition following his arrest in Virginia on May 6.
According to an affidavit filed by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office to obtain the arrest warrant for Weddle, his blood-alcohol level was 0.09 when a blood sample was taken from him by an emergency medical services worker at the scene of the crash on Route 17 near the intersection with Fitch Road in Washington.
A sample taken more than an hour later at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston resulted in a blood alcohol level of 0.073. The driver also had hydrocodone in his system, according to the police report.
Under Maine law, a person is considered operating under the influence if his or her blood alcohol level is at 0.08 or greater. Federal law states a commercial driver is under the influence if his or her blood alcohol level is 0.04 or greater.
Weddle told investigators at the hospital that he had not been feeling well and had taken a drug called Lortab, which contains hydrocodone, according to an affidavit filed with the court. Weddle said he had come from Tennessee and made a delivery in Massachusetts before coming to Maine to pick up lumber in Searsmont. He was heading back to Tennessee to deliver the load when the crash occurred.
Weddle’s truck had been traveling 81 mph shortly before the crash and was operating at 73 mph when it occurred, according to the affidavit. That information was obtained from data downloaded from the engine control module, according to police. The speed limit is 55 mph on that section of Route 17.
Weddle was driving west near Fitch Road when the 1998 Freightliner loaded with lumber veered into the eastbound lane, according to police. Fowles was driving east in a 2009 Chevrolet Colorado and was the first vehicle in line struck by the truck.
The trailer and load of lumber then struck a 1998 Chrysler van that was behind Fowles and being driven by Torres-York. The van was pushed into a nearby field and burst into flames.
A 2014 Nissan driven by Tracy Cook, 51, of Union also was struck by the trailer, and it rolled over once before hitting another vehicle that had been following, a 2015 Kia driven by Tracy Morgan, 33, of Washington. Morgan was able to avoid being struck by the trailer after she took evasive action, but not the Nissan as it rolled over. The Nissan and the Kia came to rest in the field to the right.
Morgan was uninjured in the crash. Cook was taken by ambulance to a local hospital.
Weddle was taken by a LifeFlight helicopter to CMMC in Lewiston. A passenger in the Freightliner, Lowell Babb, 32, of Virginia, was taken to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport and treated for minor injuries.