Police Thursday continued to try to confirm the identity of a man killed in a Wednesday crash on Plains Road in Readfield that badly injured two other men.

Chief Deputy Ryan Reardon of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office said deputies on Thursday afternoon were still trying to officially confirm the identity of the man who died. Two other men were injured in the accident in which “speed appears to be a factor,” Reardon said.

“Deputies are attempting to contact family or friends to help with the identification,” he said.

The state medical examiner was expected to conduct an autopsy Thursday to determine a cause of death, Reardon said. The results of that autopsy were not immediately available.

The driver, Thorr Ellis, 20, and a passenger, Bradley Plevyak, 19, both of Gardiner, suffered broken bones and internal injuries, Reardon said. He said both were expected to survive. They were taken, along with the man who died, to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston after the accident.

A CMMC spokeswoman said Thursday afternoon that Ellis was in good condition. Plevyak’s family asked the hospital to withhold information on his condition.

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The crash occurred shortly before 5 p.m. in the area of 228 Plains Road as the men were heading north in Ellis’ Audi A4. Ellis told investigators he was driving north when he swerved to avoid a deer, Reardon said. The car spun out of control, hit a large boulder and sheared off a tree before coming to rest on its roof.

It is unclear if any of the men wore a seatbelt. The man who died was ejected from the car, Reardon said.

Ellis and Plevyak stayed in the car and got out on their own after the crash, Reardon said.

Investigators are not certain where in the car the unidentified man or Plevyak were sitting, Reardon said.

Maine State Police were called to reconstruct the crash.

A television news station reported Thursday that detectives were using a dog to search the crash scene, but Reardon said the dog was not being used as part of the ongoing investigation. Kennebec County Sheriff Deputy Aaron Moody, who initially responded to the crash scene and continues to assist with the investigation, is a police dog handler, so his animal was with him at the scene, Reardon said.

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According to Kennebec Journal archives, Plevyak graduated this year from Gardiner Area High School.

Ellis’ Facebook page says he is a 2012 graduate of Gardiner High School, but he was not among those named in a list of graduates that appeared in the Kennebec Journal.

Craig Crosby — 621-5642

ccrosby@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @CraigCrosby4


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