SKOWHEGAN – A man once called “a ticking time bomb behind the wheel” by Somerset County District Attorney Evert Fowle was killed Friday night in what appears to be an alcohol-related crash on U.S. Route 2.

According to Skowhegan police reports, Chad Nason, 40, of Skowhegan was traveling on East River Road when he apparently failed to stop at the stop sign at Route 2 and was unable to complete a turn. The vehicle traveled straight across Route 2 into a guardrail.

Nason was ejected from his vehicle, a Buick sedan. The accident report said alcohol was a factor in the crash.

Nason had two previous drunken driving convictions and more than 18 speeding tickets and convictions.

The victim died not far from where two of his best friends were killed in 2001 when they and Nason were ejected from a pickup truck that crashed on Route 2. Although the truck was Nason’s, police were unable to prove that he was driving.

In 2004, Fowle said Nason didn’t learn his lesson when he narrowly survived that 2001 crash. At a hearing to revoke Nason’s probation because of a second drunken driving charge, Fowle said Nason had more than 18 speeding tickets on his driving record.

In the early hours of Aug. 18, 2001, not far from where Nason lost his life Friday night, Nason, then of Cornville, Devin Whittemore, 36, of Madison and Jamie Arch, 34, of Skowhegan were ejected from Nason’s truck after it struck a utility pole.

Both Whittemore and Arch died, and Nason suffered serious head and chest injuries in the crash.

At his 2004 hearing, Nason told the court that he had changed his life, had sought alcoholism treatment and was reminded of the fatal accident “every time I look in the mirror and see the scars.”