A truck driver has been arrested in Virginia and charged with two counts of manslaughter and two counts of aggravated operating under the influence in connection with a March 18 accident that killed two local residents in Washington, Maine.

Randall Weddle, 53, of Greenville, Tennessee, the driver of a tractor-trailer loaded with lumber, which police said strayed into oncoming traffic and rolled over on Route 17 in a March 18 double fatality in Washington, was arrested Friday on warrants for his arrest issued in Knox County, according to a statement Friday night on the Knox County Sheriff Office’s Facebook page.

The manslaughter charges are class A felonies, while the two counts of aggravated operating under the influence are class B felonies. Police said more charges are likely.

He was arrested by the Russell County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia and is being held, with no bail, in Virginia, awaiting extradition to face the charges in Maine, according to the sheriff’s office.

Five vehicles were involved in the accident. A woman who was in the accident reported lumber was flying off the back of Weddle’s Freightliner tractor-trailer on a curve near Fitch Road, with the truck, lumber or both hitting some oncoming vehicles and forcing others off the road into a field.

Paul Fowles, 74, of Owls Head, a driver of one of the vehicles, was declared dead at the scene.

Also killed in the accident was Christina Torres-York, 45, of Warren.

Weddle was taken by Lifeflight helicopter to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, where he was treated and released. His passenger, Lowell Babb, 32, of Virginia, was taken to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport, and treated and released.

Police said a combined investigation by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office and the Maine State Police commercial vehicle enforcement and crash reconstruction divisions provided evidence that led to the Knox County District Attorney’s Office to draft warrants for Weddle’s arrest.


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