FARMINGTON – Domingos Medeiros, the Massachusetts driver accused of leaving the scene of a deadly wreck in New Vineyard on Jan. 16, returned to Maine on Friday so police could interview him and inspect his truck and trailer.

Franklin County Cpl. Stephen Charles said Friday that the 48-year-old Assonet resident was accompanied by his attorney, Walt McKee of Augusta, during the interview.

It was the first time police were able to talk with Medeiros since his load of 12-foot hemlock barn beams slid off his trailer, hitting two cars on Route 27 and killing one of the drivers.

Charles and Maine State Police Trooper Joseph Parker weighed Medeiros’ Ford F550 truck and trailer with and without the load of beams Friday.

After the interview and inspection, Medeiros returned to his home with his equipment. He is free on $3,000 bail.

Medeiros and his wife were in Maine on Jan. 16 to pick up beams that were cut incorrectly and take them back Medeiros’ business, Hardpine Inc. in Fall River, Mass. The beams had been purchased to build a horse barn in Kingfield, police said.

Shortly before 5 p.m. as they traveled south about three miles from the Farmington town line, the beams fell from the trailer and into the path of Stephen McKenney’s northbound car and that of Katherine Jones. One beam hit McKenney’s windshield, and the 55-year-old resident of New Portland died at the scene. Jones, 43, and her passenger suffered minor injuries, police said.

McKee said last week that Medeiros didn’t realize he’d lost the load until he stopped in Farmington. When he went back to try to find the beams, he was turned away because the highway was blocked due to the accident, he said. Then, Medeiros and the building contractor who bought the beams decided to forget about looking for them at that point, McKee said.

Medeiros returned to Massachusetts that night, received a phone call the next day about the accident and called the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, his attorney said.

Cpl. Charles and Detective Thomas White traveled to Fall River on Jan. 17 expecting to talk with Medeiros and inspect the truck and trailer, after being contacted by Medeiros’ then-attorney, Emile Morad, of New Bedford, Mass. They could not find Medeiros or get into the fenced-in business to inspect the truck and trailer, White said.

The investigators returned to the business Jan. 18 and were told the truck and trailer were being used for a delivery, White said. Eventually, not able to find Medeiros or the truck and trailer that day, they issued a warrant on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident and returned to Maine in the late evening, they said.

Massachusetts police issued a fugitive from justice charge and continued the hunt, the investigators said, coming up empty in searches of the business and his home.

Finally, on Jan. 23, seven days after the accident, Medeiros turned himself in to Franklin County authorities and was arraigned in Superior Court. He was released on bail and asked to return two days later with the truck and trailer.