The man who was driving the car that crashed on Interstate 295 in Falmouth on Friday, killing a passenger, has a history of crashes and driving violations including convictions for speeding, driving to endanger and two criminal convictions for drunken-driving.

Brannon McRae, 29, of Augusta was driving a 2012 Chevy Malibu when it slammed into a rock ledge near mile marker 12 off the shoulder of the northbound lanes. Other motorists told police that the driver was speeding and driving erratically before the crash. Kathy Haycock, 26, was killed in the crash. McRae and Haycock’s brother, Joshua Haycock, 37, were injured.

At the time of her death, Kathy Haycock was the subject of a police investigation resulting from a fatal crash that happened in April. Haycock had not been charged with any crime, but was suspected of being the driver in a crash in Durham that killed Rebecca L. Brown, 26, police said.

After the April crash, both Haycock and a man who also was in the 2003 Toyota Corolla said that the other was driving. But a preliminary crash report shows the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office believes Haycock was behind the wheel in part because the driver’s seat was positioned close to the steering wheel. Haycock was 5-foot-3, while the other passenger in the car is roughly 5-foot-10, police said. Video surveillance from earlier in that day also showed Haycock driving the car.

Maine State Police said Monday that they continue to investigate the crash that occurred Friday on I-295, and are asking anyone who saw the vehicle before the crash, or saw the impact, to contact investigators.

It is unknown where McRae was headed when the vehicle crashed or where he had come from. McRae was taken to Maine Medical Center after the crash but was not listed as a patient at Maine Med on Monday. Joshua Haycock was listed in satisfactory condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The results of chemical testing to determine if McRae was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash, a standard step for any driver in a fatal crash, were not available, said Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety.

According to records provided by the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles, McRae’s 10-year driving history shows two administrative convictions for speeding: the first in 2008, for driving 81 mph in a 65 mph zone, and the second in 2010, when he was convicted of driving 65 mph in a 45 mph zone. He also was convicted of driving to endanger in 2009, and has had his license suspended and restored five times, most recently in November 2016, after his second conviction for operating under the influence.

In the second OUI case, McRae served 10 days in jail. He also has multiple convictions for driving while his license was suspended, his driving record shows.

In addition, McRae has been the driver in two crashes in which he lost control of a vehicle and left the road in dry conditions. The first instance was in 2009 in Harpswell, when McRae’s license was suspended and he was traveling too fast and lost control on a curve along Basin Point Road, struck and snapped a utility pole and flipped the vehicle while he had two other people in the car, according to a crash report.

Then in June 2018, McRae was traveling east on a straight section of River Road in Brunswick when he looked down at his phone and drove off the road, striking a utility pole and a utility box, according to a crash report.

This story was updated to correct Brannon McRae’s hometown. 

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