Yesterday we reported on a fatal accident involving a vehicle operated by Michael Lewis and another vehicle operated by Dacota Dow. A State investigation is underway.
The Bangor Daily News reported that the impacted occurred near the center of the road. However, information obtained by the Ellsworth American indicates that was not the case. “The impact occurred well into Lewis’ lane; close to the ditch,” Mr. McCausland, the State Police spokesman said. “Lewis was making evasive maneuvers to avoid the collision.”
Police are still conducting interviews. An accident reconstruction specialist from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office is involved in the case, police said.
As we reported yesterday, an accident reconstruction into this accident will be able to determine with a great degree of accuracy how this accident occurred. The fact that the accident occurred in Mr. Lewis’ lane would strongly indicate that the other driver, Dacota Dow, was at fault for the accident. Also, if the evidence shows that Lewis was trying to make evasive maneuvers shortly before the accident, this would further suggest that Mr. Dow was at fault for this accident. However, before any conclusions can be drawn about how this accident happened, it will be necessary to completely investigate all of the physical evidence at the scene and obtain witness statements.
Even witness statements may not provide a complete and accurate understanding of what happened, however. In past cases our office has handled where there is a similar dispute about the pre-accident maneuvers taken by drivers who collided head-on, we factor in bias on the part of witnesses. In one case we handled, our client suffered a head injury and did not recall how the accident happened, resulting in the police investigation relying more heavily on what the other driver reported. We were able to establish through physical evidence at the scene and by showing that the other driver’s statements were inconsistent with the physical evidence that the other driver was primarily at fault.