SOUTH PARIS — Police said a Mexico man charged with manslaughter stemming from a May car crash with a bicyclist in Rumford failed a field sobriety test and was suspected of being under the influence of sedatives, opioid pain killers and marijuana.
Alger M. Aleck Rumford Police Department photo
According to documents filed in Oxford County Superior Court, Alger Aleck, 38, of 69 Middle Ave., Mexico, was driving a Honda Accord on Route 2 shortly before 11 a.m. on May 21 when the car collided with a bicycle, ridden by Dorothy McKellick, 68, of Rumford, who died from her injuries.
Rumford Police Chief Tony Milligan wrote in a memo to the judge in the case that McKellick had been “properly riding her bike well into the bike/breakdown lane away from traffic when the defendant drove up behind her erratically and collided with her,” according to “evidence and initial witness interviews” at the scene.
In a police report, Rumford Cpl. Donald Miller wrote that authorities had received a complaint within 15 minutes of the report of the crash that a car in the area fitting the description of the Honda driven by Aleck had been “all over the road and almost hit someone head-on.”
Miller wrote in his report that two breath tests for alcohol indicated there was no alcohol in Aleck’s blood. But Aleck failed two of the field sobriety test elements, according to Miller, who wrote that he also conducted a drug recognition examination.
“I feel Aleck was under the influence of CNS Depressants, Narcotic Analgesics and Cannabis,” Miller wrote.
A judge set Aleck’s bail at $10,000 cash with conditions that include he seek treatment at a drug abuse rehabilitation facility and abide by a curfew. Other conditions include no possession or use of alcohol or illegal drugs for which he can be searched and tested at random.
An Oxford County grand jury indicted Aleck in October on charges of manslaughter and aggravated criminal operating under the influence. The manslaughter charge, a Class A crime, is punishable by up to 30 years in prison; OUI, up to 10 years.
Aleck is expected to enter an initial plea at his arraignment scheduled for the last week of January.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
