LEWISTON — A judge denied bail Wednesday for a Sabattus man charged with manslaughter stemming from a fatal crash last week.
Ryan Curran Submitted photo
A prosecutor told the judge that Ryan Curran, 37, had been on probation for a drug trafficking conviction when he was reportedly involved in a crash last Wednesday on Lisbon Street that killed a 60-year-old woman from Auburn.
Eight District Court Judge Susan Driscoll ordered Curran held without bail, pending a hearing on a motion to revoke his probation.
Curran denied he had violated his probation conditions.
Assistant District Attorney Patricia Mador urged the judge to increase Curran’s bail on the new charges, including manslaughter and causing death while operating after suspension, to $100,000 cash from $50,000 cash, given his criminal history.
She noted Curran had five criminal convictions dating back to 2010, including drug possession, operating under the influence of drugs and trafficking in prison contraband.
Mador said Curran had violated conditions of bail as well as conditions of probation in the past.
Defense lawyer Edward Rabasco Jr. said the affidavit supporting Curran’s arrest alleged he fell asleep “after working weeks for many, many hours of the day” while driving a pickup truck on Lisbon Street, near Scribner Boulevard, when the truck hit the back of a car in which Shari Williams, 60, of Auburn had been riding in the back seat.
A pickup truck driven June 8 by Ryan Curran, 37, of Sabattus is suspected of slamming into a car stopped at a red light on Lisbon Street in Lewiston, police Lt. Derrick St. Laurent said. A passenger in the car, Shari Williams, 60, of Auburn, died in the collision, he said. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
“There is an allegation that he may have used drugs,” but results of a blood test have not been released, Rabasco said. “There’s no evidence of operating under the influence” as of Wednesday.
Moreover, although Curran had been suspended for operating under the influence in 2018, his license had been restored a year later, Rabasco said.
For some reason, Curran’s license was suspended again in 2022 for the 2018 conviction, Rabasco said, suggesting a mix-up by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
Curran had not been aware of the recent resuspension, Rabasco said.
“This is not your typical driving after suspension,” he said. “It may come out to be that he should have never been suspended in the first place.”
Curran lives with his “significant other” and their two children at an in-law apartment attached to his parents’ house, according to Rabasco. Curran has been working for his father for 16 years at a concrete business.
His “tight-knit, close” family was in the courtroom Wednesday, according to Rabasco.
“They were obviously shocked by what’s occurred,” Rabasco said.
Curran appeared on a courtroom monitor by videoconference from Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn, where he wore orange jail clothing.
Rabasco urged the judge to set bail at $100,000 real estate bond or $20,000 cash, which he called “significant.”
He said Curran had not violated the terms of his probation over the past two years, but Mador took issue with that assertion. She directed Driscoll to the affidavit in which police wrote that during an interview with Curran, he had admitted to having “used crack cocaine the past few nights,” which would have been a violation of his probation.
“He further acknowledged that he entered (a) store (shortly after the crash) and that he threw away a crack pipe, but didn’t throw away suboxone wrappers or the other pipe,” Mador said, reading from the affidavit.
Curran had told his probation officer he had relapsed in using opiates, which was a “technical violation” of his probation for which he was sanctioned by his probation officer, Mador told the judge.
Driscoll set bail on the new charges at $50,000 cash.
If Curran is released from jail, he must remain under house arrest, and would only be able to leave home for work or medical or legal matters.
He is barred from operating a motor vehicle and from having any illegal drugs, for which he can be searched and tested on suspicion of possession.
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