Law targets ATV, boat, sled hit-and-runs

AUGUSTA – A law that will take effect this fall closes a loophole in Maine law by making it a crime not to report a snowmobile, all-terrain vehicle or boating accident that causes injury or death, or to leave the scene of that accident.

“This definitely does close a loophole,” said Col. Tom Santaguida, chief of the Maine Warden Service. “It’s not likely that we will have to use this law with much frequency in the future, thankfully. But this definitely gives us in law enforcement a tool we don’t have now.”

The law was prompted by a fatal hit-and-run snowmobile accident on frozen Sabattus Lake in December 2002. The snowmobile driver left the scene, and the victim, Robert Levesque, 59, of Wales, who was not found for another hour, died after being taken to a hospital.

Steven Davies, the operator of the snowmobile that hit Levesque, eventually was apprehended and sentenced to one year in jail on a misdemeanor charge of falsifying physical evidence.

The new law will make it “a felony to leave the scene and not report the accident when you know you have had an accident,” Santaguida said.

The law establishes a Class C crime punishable by up to five years in prison if a person “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly” fails to report an accident.

It will require a person to provide assistance to the victim of the accident and immediately report the accident to law enforcement authorities, Santaguida said. The measure also is drafted to take into account how someone in the wilderness on a snowmobile or an ATV may have to leave the victim in order to get help and report the accident.

Rep. Nancy Smith, D-Monmouth, sponsored the legislation after Levesque’s death.

“He was just out on the lake for a walk and he was hit, run over and dragged by a snowmobile,” Smith said. “The guy on the snowmobile panicked and ran away.”

The victim’s family was upset with the one-year sentence imposed on Davies.

“The family was frustrated, the game warden was frustrated, and I was frustrated to hear this,” Smith said.

Santaguida said he shared Smith’s concerns and worked with her to write a law modeled on an existing one dealing with hunting accidents. It requires a person involved in a hunting accident to render aid to the victim and report the accident.

“We looked at the other areas and drafted the legislation to cover all of them, not just snowmobiles,” he said. “This covers watercraft and ATVs as well.”

He said current laws have a vague reference about a boat operator involved in an accident being required to “stand by and render assistance,” but it is not specific and does not have criminal penalties.

“Some of that language came from old Coast Guard regulations that we adapted,” he said. “It’s clear we needed to do more, and this does definitely close a loophole in our current laws.”

The legislation was approved unanimously by the Legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee and met no opposition at the public hearing or in the Legislature.

“This is a classic example of a law that shouldn’t have to be a law,” said Bob Meyers, executive director of the Maine Snowmobile Association. “Common decency would dictate that if you cause an accident or you see an accident, and [they’re] injured, you stop and give them help.”

He said the new law should send a strong message to those who misbehave on a trail or on a lake that they will pay for their conduct. He said his group strongly supported the measure.

The new law takes effect in September.