LEWISTON — A 27-year-old local man has been sentenced to serve 5½ years in prison in connection with a 2025 crash that claimed the life of a passenger and destroyed a house on Old Lisbon Road.

Blaze Smalls of Lewiston was sentenced to 21 years — all but 5½ were suspended — on charges that include manslaughter and driving while intoxicated.

Smalls had been driving a 2017 BMW when he crashed into a house near the intersection of Old Lisbon Road, Old Webster Road and Webster Street.

The May 21 wreck claimed the life of 28-year-old Natasha Thoits of Lewiston, who was trapped in the mangled car after it hit the single-family home.

She was pronounced dead at the scene. A third person in the vehicle suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Smalls suffered minor injuries.

The wreck also displaced 86-year-old Claudette Dumont from her home after Smalls’ BMW ripped through the front of it. Dumont had been asleep in the early morning when the crash occurred. Her daughter later said she barely escaped being seriously injured.

Police reconstructed the crash scene and investigated the collision for months before arresting Smalls in July 2025.

In addition to charges of manslaughter and driving while intoxicated, Smalls was also convicted of aggravated driving to endanger, criminal speed and reckless conduct.

Smalls has a history of crashing into buildings. In November 2017, he was arrested on charges of eluding police, criminal mischief and other offenses after fleeing from police before crashing into the Margaret Murphy Center for Children at the corner of Charles Street and Western Promenade in Auburn.