AUBURN — A Lisbon couple is suing the family of a 25-year-old Windsor man who died in a crash he allegedly caused while riding his motorcycle in the 2017 Toy Run on Interstate 95.

Torri A. McGraw and Trevor T. Proctor of Lisbon were riding a 1992 Harley-Davidson in the Toy Run caravan and were injured in the crash on the highway’s northbound lanes in Augusta that killed Aaron White-Sevigny and another rider.

The civil complaint filed Thursday in Androscoggin County Superior Court says White-Sevigny was riding a 2007 Harley-Davidson in the group that included more than 1,000 riders participating in the annual United Bikers of Maine Toy Run.

He was riding ahead of McGraw and Proctor, the complaint states.

“White-Sevigny attempted to merge into the passing lane, cutting off a vehicle driven by William Nusom,” the complaint says. “Nusom attempted to take evasive action and veered left into the guardrail on the left-hand side before veering right back into the lane of travel, striking several motorcycles in the process.”

The collision between the motorcycle driven by White-Sevigny and Nusom’s pickup truck “caused all traffic to come suddenly to a stop and caused a chain reaction that caused McGraw and Proctor to be struck from behind by an unknown ‘phantom’ motorcyclist.”

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The Lisbon couple suffered “serious” injuries because of those events, the complaint says. A police statement at the time said that McGraw and Proctor were taken to the hospital with abrasions from sliding on the road.

The complaint argues that White-Sevigny was negligent for “failing to yield the right-of-way, failing to see what was there to be seen, making an improper turn and failing to keep his vehicle under control.”

The couple also named the United Bikers of Maine in their lawsuit, saying the group, as organizers of the Toy Run, “chose to direct the caravan route onto Interstate 95 in Augusta without implementing any safety procedures, warning caravan participants and without providing adequate safeguards to protect caravan participants and the community in order to prevent needless harm, injury or death.”

The complaint says that McGraw’s and Proctor’s serious injuries were a result of the group’s negligence.

White-Sevigny was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A second biker, Jamie Gross, 58, of Belmont, died at the scene.

Maine State Police initially blamed Gross for the chain reaction crash, but they later changed that assessment after speaking with more witnesses and further examining the motorcycles involved.

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The motorcyclists had gathered at the Augusta Civic Center, then rode as a group bound for the Windsor Fairgrounds, headed north on the interstate between exits 112 and 113.

Nusom, 67, of Hollis was driving a pickup truck with his 99-year-old mother, Anna, as passenger. Both were taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

State police said Nusom’s truck was in the passing lane while the motorcycles were in the travel lane. Police said Nusom steered into the median guardrail in an effort to avoid striking a motorcycle that veered into his lane. He lost control of the truck, which traveled back across three northbound lanes and struck other motorcycles participating in the caravan, then rolled over on its side, police said.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com


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