PARIS — An engineer and a Maine State Police Trooper testified Wednesday in Oxford County Superior Court that faulty brakes on a tractor-trailer involved in a 2009 fatal crash in West Paris may have contributed to the severity of the accident.

Richard Ray, 60, of Naples, was killed in the three-vehicle accident on Route 26 on Nov. 23, 2009. Ray's family is suing Tricia Beretz, a Massachusetts woman who fell asleep at the the wheel of her car, and Midwest Price Co. of West Paris, whose wood-chip-hauling truck swerved left to avoid Beretz and drove into Ray's path.

Beretz, then 36 of Sommerville, Mass., was headed south in front of Ray's pickup truck. She woke up before colliding with the northbound trailer-truck driven by Warren Dunning, then 41, of Dixfield, according to police. She turned back into her lane, however Dunning had swerved left to avoid hitting Beretz's Acura head-on. The left side of her car hit the front left corner of the truck, breaking a spring that helped the truck to steer.

The collision knocked Beretz's car off the road. She didn't suffer serious injury.

According to testimony from Maine State Police officers, the chip truck made a hard left and the cab went off the road. Ray crashed his pickup into the loaded chip truck, which fell onto Ray's pickup.

Wednesday was the third day of the civil trial and witnesses included Maine State Trooper Daniel Hanson and Steven Thomas, an engineer who provides expert testimony at trials and who was retained by the Ray family's attorney.

Thomas said he analyzed the evidence from the crash and determined that the accident may have been a fender-bender if all 12 brakes on the tractor-trailer were in good working condition. He said the truck might have stopped 5 feet sooner and the impact with Beretz's Acura might have been minimal.

Instead, the car and tractor-trailer collided, disabling the truck's steering and pulling it strongly to the left. The speed of the truck made it fall to the right into the road on top of Ray's truck.

Attorney Benjamin Gideon, representing Ray's family, asked Thomas to discuss the analysis of an expert retained by Midwest Price Co., who argued the truck wasn't moving fast and tipped over because the cab hit the soft shoulder of the road.

Thomas said the shoulder would have caused the truck to tip to the left, not to the right as it did, because the left side of the cab first went onto the low shoulder.

Cathy Roberts, attorney for Midwest Price, questioned Thomas on how the collision with Beretz's car and Ray's truck might have affected the crash.

Trooper Hanson said he went to the scene on the night of the accident and studied for several months before releasing a final report on the cause of the crash.

In the report, Hanson concluded that the Midwest Price truck didn't have enough braking power, and that it contributed to the accident.

“Lack of proper braking aided in the trailer overturning,” Hanson said, reading from his report.

Roberts pointed out emails where Hanson was unsure of how much the truck brakes contributed to the accident and consulted with a crash reconstruction expert before concluding the brakes were partially to blame.

Wednesday morning, Roberts cross-examined Ronald Welton, owner of Prodrive Truck Driver Training in Scarborough and an expert witness retained by Gideon.

Roberts pointed to Welton's original deposition, where he said there may be times when veering to the left might be safer. On Tuesday, he said that as a general rule, truck drivers should veer right to avoid accidents.

Dunning testified Monday that he veered left because it appeared Beretz was headed for the ditch to his right and he didn't want to hit her head-on.

Roberts also discussed Welton's testimony that Dunning should have started braking as soon as he saw an oncoming car in his lane a quarter-mile away. She said Dunning was concerned about the other cars on the road and keeping the truck straight.

The trial will continue Thursday morning.

treaves@sunjournal.com