Sanford Police are asking for the public’s help in their investigation of the death last Friday of a man struck by a car driven onto a ball field in the middle of youth baseball game.
The department released a series of images, apparently from photos or videos taken by spectators, that show different individuals who were on the field at the time. Detectives are seeking help identifying the people in the photos so they can to speak with witnesses who were standing near the vehicle when it exited the ball park.
In one photo, a man is throwing a bat at the car in an apparent attempt to district the driver, police said. Other images show people watching the vehicle crash into the gate as it leaves the park and two people standing feet away from the gate where the vehicle struck and killed 68-year-old Douglas Parkhurst of West Newfield.
Police are asking anyone who knows the individuals in the photos to contact Detective Colleen Adams at 207-324-9170 x226, or by email at cjadams@sanfordmaine.org.
Carol Sharrow, 51, is being held on $500,000 cash bail on a manslaughter charge for killing Parkhurst as she crashed the car into a gate next to the field.
Sharrow has two previous convictions for drunken driving, police said Monday morning, but authorities aren’t saying whether alcohol was a factor in the incident Friday. Sharrow also has been ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.
Stunned baseball players and spectators watched in disbelief as the vehicle drove onto and around the field during the game. Parkhurst was there watching his teenage grandson play and witnesses said he pushed some children out of the path of the car before he was hit.
In an unusual twist, Parkhurst had confessed five years ago to the hit-and-run death of a 4-year-old girl in Fulton, New York, in 1968. Parkhurst was never prosecuted because the statute of limitations ran out before his confession.
Relatives of the girl said news that Parkhurst had been killed by a driver in Sanford brought closure to the family.
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