PARIS — The driver of a tractor-trailer truck involved in a fatal 2009 crash in West Paris testified Tuesday that there was nothing else he could have done to prevent the collision that resulted in the death of a Naples man.

Warren Dunning of Dixfield took the stand on the second day of a civil trial against Midwest Price Co. of West Paris, which owned the truck, and Tricia Beretz of Massachusetts, who fell asleep at the wheel and crossed in front of the truck on Route 26.

The family of Richard Ray, who was 60 when he died in the accident, is suing both parties for damages in Oxford County Superior Court. The crash happened at around 5 p.m. on Nov. 23, 2009.

Neither Beretz nor the chip truck driver were seriously hurt. Beretz, then 36 of Sommerville, Mass., admitted she “made a terrible mistake” and has served 200 hours of community service for her tole in causing the accident, her attorney said in court Monday.

Dunning, who was 41 at the time of the crash, answered questions for more than an hour about the circumstances of the collision, his reaction to seeing Beretz’s car crossing in front of him and his truck inspection habits.

Attorney Benjamin Gideon, representing the Ray family, questioned Dunning on when the truck brakes were last inspected and why he veered left when he saw Beretz’s Acura come into the northbound lane.

Dunning said Beretz’s car, headed south in front of Ray’s pickup, was on a diagonal path toward the ditch to the right of his truck. He veered right to avoid a head-on collision. However, Beretz awoke to see the truck headlights and corrected her course, pulling back into her lane. The driver’s side of her car hit the front left corner of the chipper truck, causing Dunning to lose control.

Ray’s truck hit the trailer truck in the southbound lane. The loaded chip truck rolled onto Ray’s pickup, according to investigators.

Gideon also asked Dunning why he didn’t slow down when he saw Beretz’s car in his lane a quarter-mile away. Dunning said he laid off the accelerator but didn’t brake until Beretz’s car was about 25 feet away.

Dunning said he thought the car was passing someone or turning left. It wasn’t until they were close that he realized the car was about to hit his truck.

Midwest Price’s attorney, Cathy Roberts, asked Dunning whether he thought there was any way he could have averted the collision. Dunning said he didn’t believe he could have.

According to Dunning, he did a “walk around” inspection before driving the truck that day, checking under the truck with a flashlight for hanging air lines and other potential problems.

Expert witness Ronald A. Welton, owner of Prodrive Truck Driver Training in Scarborough, said he believed Dunning’s inspection before driving that day was “very inadequate.”

Welton said there was no evidence that Dunning’s inspections would have found that five of the truck’s 12 brakes were defective.

Maine State Police Trooper Christopher Cyr of the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit testified he inspected the chip truck after the crash and found five of the truck brakes deficient due to out-of-place slack adjusters. More than two adjusters out by ¼ inch or more would have been enough to deem the truck out of service. He said a loose connection between the tractor and trailer was also enough to constitute an out-of-service violation. In addition, the slack adjusters on the back axle brakes were mismatched, he said.

Roberts asked Cyr whether the crash, or when the truck was pulled upright with a crane, could have affected the brakes or the coupling between the trailer and tractor. Cyr said he didn’t know.

Cyr said he had no opinion on whether the violations could have caused the crash.

The trial will continue on Wednesday.

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