P.E.I. truck driver sentenced for crash that left man paralyzed
Sally Pitt | CBC News | Posted: February 8, 2017 10:00 PM | Last Updated: February 8, 2017
Dario Dosen pleaded guilty to aggravated driving to endanger in Maine
A truck driver from Stratford, P.E.I. has been sentenced to six months in a Maine jail for a serious collision that left another driver paralyzed.
Dario Dosen, 49, pleaded guilty to aggravated driving to endanger in a court in Bangor, Maine Tuesday.
Dosen was driving a tractor-trailer north on Interstate 95 on Aug. 23, 2016 in Hampden, Maine, when he forced another vehicle off the road while trying to turn around.
Marianne Lynch, assistant district attorney for Penobscot County, Maine told CBC News, that Dosen braked in a 70 mile/hr zone to make a turn in a turnaround area designated for authorized vehicles only, and when his truck made the turn, it straddled both driving and passing lanes.
Other driver swerved to avoid crash
Lynch said that according to eyewitnesses, an SUV was following at a safe distance, but the driver was forced to swerve out of the way to avoid a collision.
The SUV struck a guardrail and the driver, a man in his early 30s, was ejected from his vehicle.
Police shut down the highway for several hours to complete their investigation.
Lynch said Dosen co-operated fully with police.
"As soon as he realized he had caused this, he did stop his vehicle. He did not try to evade or elude anybody. He realized right away what had happened and that he had caused it," she said.
Blood tests found Dosen was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
'He never saw the SUV'
Dosen's lawyer, Jon Haddow, told CBC News that the judge hearing the case Tuesday also took into consideration that the SUV driver was determined to be going about nine miles an hour over the limit, and that his vehicle inspection sticker had expired.
Haddow said his client had missed his highway exit and didn't know he wasn't allowed to use the turnaround area.
"He never saw the SUV until after it had crashed," said Haddow, adding that Dosen expressed remorse immediately. "The very first thing he asked me was 'How is the driver doing?'"
'Like driving a missile'
Lynch says the I-95 does have a lot of truck traffic and most drivers are highly trained and professional.
However when an 18-wheeler is involved, any collision is bound to have serious implications, said Lynch.
"Driving a commercial truck on the highway is like driving a missile," said Lynch.
The driver of the SUV "suffered a broken back, pelvis, punctured lung and significant head injury," she said, leaving him paralyzed.
Lynch said the driver spent weeks in a hospital in Boston, needed reconstructive surgery, and is still getting rehabilitation.
Driver's injuries permanent
The injured man is back in Maine now, said Lynch, but the family is living in a hotel while their home is retrofitted to make it accessible. "These are life-long injuries that he has sustained."
Because Dosen has been in custody since the crash, the court considered his sentence served as of Tuesday and he was released from jail.
"He is relieved that it's over but saddened about the whole situation," said Haddow, adding that Dosen planned to return to P.E.I. to be reunited with his family and hopes to return to work.
Dosen was in Canada on a work permit, said his lawyer, and isn't sure how his criminal record in the U.S. will affect that.
In addition to the jail time, Dosen was fined $500 and won't be allowed to drive in Maine for two years.
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