Driver who allegedly spurred I-295 crash is identified

PORTLAND – The motorist who allegedly triggered last week’s seven-vehicle pileup on Interstate 295 in Falmouth by making an illegal U-turn in an emergency crossover has been identified as a 63-year-old woman with a long record of accidents and speeding convictions.

The decision on whether to press charges against Victoria Miele of Falmouth will be made by the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office, said Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland.

Investigators initially withheld the name of the driver whose U-turn from the northbound to the southbound lanes caused the Dec. 7 chain-reaction accident that left five people with minor injuries, destroyed several vehicles and closed the northbound lanes.

Maine Public Safety Commissioner Michael Cantara said Miele was identified Thursday after evidence increased investigators’ confidence about who was behind the wheel.

Miele’s driving record over the past 35 years includes 20 speeding convictions and seven accidents and her license was suspended for two weeks in 1999. The driving record did not indicate who was to blame for the accidents.

Miele, president of the New Gloucester-based biotechnology company PharmX Inc., a founder of the Cancer Community Center in South Portland and a member of the University of New England’s board of trustees in 2005-2006, did not return a call seeking comment.