FARMINGTON — Bail has been lowered for the Industry man charged with drunken driving following the New Year’s Day accident that killed a Farmington woman.

On Wednesday, a Franklin County judge lowered bail for Tommy Clark, 25, from $75,000 cash to $50,000 cash or $50,000 in real estate, according to court documents.

Clark is charged with felony operating under the influence resulting in death and aggravated leaving the scene of an accident following the Jan. 1 crash on Wilton road that killed Taylor Gaboury, of Farmington.

He has been held at the Franklin County Jail since his arrest Jan. 1 and had not posted bail as of Thursday afternoon.

Thomas Carey, Clark’s attorney, submitted the motion to amend bail Jan. 13, because “the defendant has been adjudged indigent and does not have $75,000 to put up for bail,” and “it is appropriate that the bail be reduced and amended as pre-conviction bail,” Carey said in the motion.

Carey said Thursday that because the court already had found Clark indigent when he was granted court-appointed counsel, that finding also should be taken into consideration when setting bail.

“If you can’t afford to pay for a lawyer, then you can’t afford $75,000 (bail),” Carey said.

Carey said Clark does not have $50,000, but he has “a lot of family who love him” and who are trying to pull together the resources to make Clark’s bail. Carey said he did not know the likelihood of the family putting up $50,000 in cash or real estate.

Franklin County District Attorney Claire Andrews represented the state in the case Wednesday. A call to her for comment was not returned.

Gaboury, 21, was pronounced dead at the scene when Farmington police arrived around 1:40 a.m. Jan. 1.

Gaboury was walking east on Wilton Road near Franklin Memorial Hospital when Clark allegedly ran into her with his car, knocking her over an embankment.

After initially telling police he did not know what he had hit, Clark later admitted he was aware he’d hit a person, according to a police affidavit filed with the court.

He told police he stopped his car and went down the embankment where the body lay and “tried to wake her up,” but he concluded she was dead and fled the scene because “he was nervous and needed a lighter,” the affidavit, filed by Farmington Sgt. Edward Hastings IV, said.

Police found Clark at the Colonial Valley Motel in Farmington shortly after the accident, where he was arrested and taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital to undergo a blood alcohol content test. Clark’s blood alcohol level was more than the legal limit of 0.08, according to the affidavit.

Clark left two female passengers near the accident scene. When police arrived there, the women said they had discovered Gaboury’s body after finding a shoe in the road. After interviewing the two women, police took them back to the Colonial Valley Motel, where they were staying.

According to the affidavit, police still at the scene found the women’s stories suspicious and went to the motel, where they found Clark sitting in a car next to the damaged Dodge Dart he had been driving when he allegedly struck Gaboury.

Police were not able to identify Gaboury on Jan. 1 because she did not have a cellphone or identification on her. On Jan. 2 she was tentatively identified by her parents. She was officially identified by the state medical examiner on Jan. 4.

Clark is scheduled to appear in court again Feb. 26, according to court documents.

Lauren Abbate — 861-9252

labbate@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Lauren_M_Abbate

Copy the Story Link