Driver in ’01 double fatality crash loses license for 18 months on OUI charge

SKOWHEGAN – Somerset County District Attorney Evert Fowle said Chad Nason, 37, of Cornville didn’t learn his lesson when he narrowly survived a car crash almost three years ago that killed his two best friends.

The crash, which was alcohol-related, happened in the early hours of Aug. 18, 2001, on Route 2 in Skowhegan. All three men in Nason’s pickup truck were ejected after it struck a utility pole. The two men who died were Devin Whittemore, 36, of Madison and Jamie Arch, 34, of Skowhegan.

Nason suffered serious head and chest injuries in the crash.

With more than 18 speeding tickets on his driving record, Nason’s probation for operating while under the influence was revoked this week in Somerset County Superior Court based on a new OUI charge two months ago.

Fowle called Nason “a ticking time bomb behind the wheel.” He said that Nason should have learned from the 2001 accident of the dangers of drinking and driving and he should not be behind the wheel of a vehicle.

Nason read a lengthy letter of apology and said that “every time I look in the mirror to shave and see the scars on my face I remember” the fatal accident.

Justice Kirk Studstrup said that although Nason “was charged with a second offense while on probation for the same offense,” he appeared to have a “wake-up call” recently and had participated in an alcohol dependency program at Seton Unit, MaineGeneral Hospital in Waterville.

Studstrup revoked Nason’s probation, sentencing him to 120 days in the county jail. He then was sentenced on the new OUI charge to 364 days in jail, all but 30 days suspended, one year probation, $600 fine and an 18-month license suspension.