AUBURN — A pickup truck driven by an Augusta man was speeding at more than 107 mph on the wrong side of Route 4 in Turner last December when it slammed into a car, killing a Fayette woman, a state prosecutor said Monday at his bail hearing.
Jacob Diaz, 24, of Augusta appears Monday in Androscoggin County Superior Court from Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn for a bail hearing in his manslaughter case. He is charged with manslaughter in the crash that killed a Fayette women in Turner last December. Screenshot from video
Androscoggin County Superior Court Justice Harold Stewart II lowered the bail of Jacob Diaz, 24, from $100,000 to $10,000 cash but imposed strict conditions on his release. Diaz will be allowed to continue driving to work and other specific destinations.
Diaz is facing a charge of manslaughter, a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. He has denied that and related charges in connection with the crash.
Assistant District Attorney Patricia Mador argued in favor of keeping the high bail after detailing facts from the crash, including the high rate of speed Diaz was traveling at the moment of impact.
“Your honor, that is a crash at tremendous high speed,” Mador said, later calling Diaz’s speed “outrageous.”
She said the force was so great that it sent the 2016 Hyundai Sonata driven by 79-year-old Carol Ivers spinning roughly 221 feet. The car’s engine was “ripped from the vehicle and that engine went 183.12 feet past the Hyundai’s point of final rest,” Mador said. A tire on the driver’s side went nearly 500 feet from the point of impact, she said.
Ivers was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses told investigators that Diaz appeared to have been racing another pickup truck or one of the trucks had been chasing the other at the time of the crash on the morning of Dec. 11, 2022, Mador said.
A second driver was recently indicted by an Androscoggin County grand jury on a manslaughter charge in the crash.
Ivers had been on her way to deliver Christmas presents to her grandchildren, Mador said.
Stewart changed Diaz’s bail to $10,000 cash with conditions, including that he live with his younger sister and abide by a curfew of 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Diaz will be allowed to drive to and from his work as a flooring installer and power washer, Stewart said. Diaz may also drive to meet with his attorney, attend court and in the event of a medical emergency.
He could be charged with a bail violation if he were to exceed the speed limit by 15 mph or more, Stewart said. He noted Diaz had no criminal record.
Diaz had gotten a couple of speeding tickets, Mador said.
Defense attorney Walter McKee said Diaz turned himself in to authorities when he learned of a warrant for his arrest on the manslaughter charge. McKee had sought a cash bail of $5,000 for his client.
Stewart prohibited Diaz from having any contact with the passenger in his truck at the time of the crash, as well as with the driver of the other truck.
Each of three additional felony charges — two for reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and one for aggravated driving to endanger — is punishable by up to five years in prison.
He also is charged with misdemeanor speeding more than 30 mph over the speed limit.
Investigators said Diaz, who had been northbound from Auburn the morning of Dec. 11, 2022, 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 in Turner.
When the vehicles collided, police said, Diaz and his passenger were ejected from the 2006 Chevrolet Silverado Diaz had been driving. Both were taken to a Lewiston hospital and later released.
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