Jacob Diaz Androscoggin County Jail photo
TURNER — An Augusta man was arrested on manslaughter and other charges Thursday afternoon in connection with a crash that claimed the life of a Fayette woman in December.
Police said Jacob Diaz, 24, had been racing another vehicle on Route 4 when he crashed into a 2016 Hyundai Sonata driven by Carol Ivers, 79, of Fayette. Ivers died at the scene.
Diaz and a passenger were hurt in the wreck.
On Thursday, police arrested Diaz on a warrant charging him with manslaughter, aggravated driving to endanger, reckless conduct and speeding in excess of 30 mph over the limit. He was taken to the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn where he was being held Thursday night on $100,000 cash bail.
Diaz was arrested about 2 p.m. at the Sheriff’s Office on Turner Street.
The crash was investigated by the Sheriff’s Office. In the months since the wreck, they have been investigating reports that Diaz had been racing the driver of an army green pickup about 9:50 a.m. the morning of the crash.
Police said Diaz, headed north from Auburn, appeared to have been passing a tractor-trailer at a high rate of speed when he slammed into Ivers’ car as she pulled onto Route 4 from Upper Street.
Ivers, who had been delivering Christmas gifts to her family in Brunswick, was dead when rescue crews arrived.
It was not immediately clear whether police had found the second driver, although that part of the investigation was continuing.
When the vehicles collided, police said, Diaz and 23-year-old Alana Hartford were ejected from the 2006 Chevrolet Silverado Diaz had been driving. Both were taken to a Lewiston hospital and later released.
After the crash, Ivers’ granddaughter, Sarah Cholewinski, began an effort to have a traffic light installed in the area where the crash occurred.
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