Trucker in Hallowell fatal has history of driving offenses

PORTLAND – A truck driver involved in a fatal collision in Hallowell had a record of 34 convictions for driving offenses and had his license suspended 13 times, according to the secretary of state’s office. He also was involved in another fatal crash 11 years ago.

Scott Hewitt, 32, of Presque Isle was wanted on warrants for criminal violations of trucking rules and had a suspended license at the time of last Friday’s collision that killed Tina Turcotte, 40, of Scarborough.

The circumstances led Gov. John Baldacci to call Wednesday for a detailed review of the accident and for an examination of state laws and regulations concerning commercial drivers by representatives of three state agencies.

“A tragedy such as this one reminds us that our motor vehicle laws and regulations exist for a reason,” the governor said. “Administrative suspensions must be effective in keeping unsafe drivers off of Maine’s roads.”

Representatives of the secretary of state’s office and the departments of public safety and transportation will be involved in the review. The results and any recommendations will be presented to the governor.

After Friday’s crash, Hewitt was arrested on two outstanding warrants that resulted from his arrest a year ago for falsifying his logbook and then removing a sticker from his truck that designated it as out of service. The warrants were issued when he failed to appear in court this April for a plea hearing.

Kennebec County District Attorney Evert Fowle said Tuesday that his office was overseeing the investigation to determine what criminal charges Hewitt might face.

Hewitt was released on $1,000 bail. Alan Harding, Hewitt’s lawyer in the 2004 logbook violations case, described him as “a young truck driver with a family” who was under financial pressure to work more often than he should.

“If he has a fault, it is accepting dispatches that in retrospect he would have been better off not taking,” Harding said. “The pressure to take loads and go on trips is tremendous.”

Harding said Hewitt had agreed to plead guilty to the 2004 allegations, and his failure to appear in a Portland courtroom had been a misunderstanding.

Hewitt’s driving convictions included two for driving to endanger, and he was involved in four accidents before the one in Hallowell, according to the secretary of state’s office.

One of those involved the death of another motorist. Hewitt was driving a truck loaded with junk cars that tipped over in South Berwick on Nov. 4, 1994, trapping Scott Davis, 25, in his car as the wreckage burned, Harding confirmed.

The case was resolved in 1997 when Hewitt pleaded guilty to driving an unsafe and improperly loaded motor vehicle, failing to inspect a vehicle and falsifying duty records. He received a six-month suspended sentence and one year of probation.

Harding said the 1994 crash didn’t make Hewitt an unsafe driver.

“There are accidents, and trucks are on the road and trucks have drivers,” he said. “The mere fact that one is involved in a collision is not an indictment.”

But Hewitt’s record is not typical for a truck driver in Maine, said Dale Hanington, president of the Maine Motor Transport Association, a trade group for the trucking industry.

Hanington said most good truckers will go a career without getting in as many accidents as Hewitt has in the last 11 years.

Turcotte’s family declined to be interviewed for this story.

According to her obituary, she worked as a self-employed accountant. She survived breast cancer in 2000, loved animals and was an advocate for animal rights.

District Attorney Fowle said the initial focus of the investigation will be the truck Hewitt was driving and the circumstances of the crash that killed Turcotte.

Later, he said, prosecutors will look at Hewitt’s driving record to determine how to proceed.