Kristen Hodak

SOUTH PORTLAND — A Hollis man was killed and an Arundel woman has been charged in a motor vehicle crash late Saturday while the man was walking on Cummings Road near the rear entrance to the Target department store plaza.

South Portland police responded shortly after midnight Saturday to the area of 29 Cummings Road, where a man had been struck by a vehicle that was traveling south, according to a post on the South Portland Police Department’s Facebook page.

Lt. Tom Simonds identified the victim Sunday evening as Joseph LePage, 24. LePage died at the scene, police said.

After the crash, a disabled vehicle was located about 2 miles away, unattended. The vehicle had been driven by Kristen Hodak, 29, of Arundel, who at first got a ride to a nearby friend’s house, then later returned to the scene of the crash, police said.

After the initial investigation, Hodak was arrested and charged with operating under the influence of an intoxicant and causing the death of another person, a Class B felony, and failing to stop for an accident resulting in a death, a Class C felony, police said.

Cummings Road between Running Hill and Payne roads was closed for several hours while the accident was investigated with help from reconstruction experts from Maine State Police and the Windham Police Department. The road reopened around 5 a.m. Sunday.

Hodak was being held without bail at the Cumberland County Jail on Sunday.

Staff Writer Dennis Hoey contributed to this report.


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