Prosecutors Monday charged a 44-year-old man with manslaughter in connection with what police described as a hit-and-run crash Friday in Albion that killed a young child and seriously injured a woman and another child.

Benjamin Lancaster, of Albion, was ordered to be held on $100,000 cash bail during his first court appearance Monday afternoon at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta.

In addition to the manslaughter charge, which is a Class A offense, Lancaster is charged with one Class B count of aggravated criminal operating under the influence, two Class C counts of aggravated criminal operating under the influence, and three Class C counts of  leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury or death. All charges are felony-level offenses.

Lancaster, who is being held at the Kennebec County Correctional Facility in Augusta, appeared in court via videoconference and spoke only briefly to answer procedural questions from Superior Court Justice Daniel Mitchell.

Lancaster did not enter a plea Monday. He will be required to do so only if and when a grand jury returns an indictment.

During the brief court proceeding, Mitchell sided with Frank Griffin, deputy district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties, who had asked for $100,000 cash bail.

The justice also agreed to the state’s recommendation for bail conditions that Lancaster not drive a motor vehicle under any circumstances; that he not use or possess alcohol, illegal drugs or marijuana; and that he not have contact with the injured woman.

District Defender Frayla Tarpinian of the Capital Region Defenders Office, who was representing Lancaster in court just for the day, said that amount “seems excessive for this case” and asked for $50,000 cash bail.

Mitchell appointed attorney Andrew Dawson to represent Lancaster and said Lancaster’s bail order was subject to future review once Dawson has had the chance to review the case.

Court records in the case were not available to view Monday.

Maine State Police announced Lancaster’s arrest Sunday, having initially responded to the crash Friday evening around 5 p.m.

Police said they identified Lancaster as the driver of a 2016 Hyundai Veloster that struck a woman pushing a stroller with two children in the area of 60 Hussey Road in Albion.

One child was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was taken via LifeFlight of Maine helicopter to a hospital and was in critical condition Sunday.

The woman, Mollie Egold, 33, of Albion, was taken from the scene via LifeFlight helicopter with serious injuries and was listed in stable condition Sunday. Police did not have an update on her condition Monday morning.

The children were 3-year-old twins, state police spokesperson Shannon Moss said in an email Monday. Their names have not yet been released.

The injured child was still listed in critical condition as of Monday morning, Moss said.

State troopers are seeking video footage near Hussey Road or Main Street in Albion between 5-5:15 p.m. on Friday that may show Lancaster’s vehicle. They ask those with video or other information to contact Sgt. Garret Booth at 207-624-7076.

The Albion Fire Department and Delta Ambulance also responded to the crash, state police said.

‘A HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE THING’

Rocky Fuller said he’ll never forget what he saw on his driveway and lawn early Friday evening.

Fuller had been working behind his house at 60 Hussey Road. As he came around to the front, he saw a woman lying at the end of his driveway, conscious and in great pain.

Her shoes were about 12 feet away from her, near his mailbox.

“She hit my mailbox — that’s what did so much damage to her,” Fuller, 68, said Monday.

He pointed to some blue hydrangeas that his wife cut and he had placed on his front lawn — the place where he saw two children after the hit-and-run not moving or making any sound, their double stroller thrown another 20 feet from them. He said the stroller was the kind where the children were seated facing each other.

“All I could think of when I seen them was a couple of rag dolls,” he said.

Fuller said he immediately recognized the three as a mother who lives in town and her twin boys who walked past his house every day — sometimes three or four times daily.

When he first saw them lying on his property Friday, he couldn’t make sense of what happened to them, as there were no vehicles around, he said.

“I called 911,” he said. “Albion Fire, Delta Ambulance and state cops came.”

Fuller said he was rattled by the scene that lay before him. He hadn’t heard any sound when the trio were struck, no screeching of tires. The road had just been paved and was very dark colored, with no vehicle tracks visible. There are no sidewalks on the rural road. Fuller said he believes the three were headed toward town when the hit-and-run occurred, and the driver in the incident was also traveling in that direction.

“It’s a horrible, horrible, horrible thing,” he said.

Fuller said he and his wife talked to the injured woman, later identified as Egold, before emergency crews arrived. A woman he described as an older relative of Egold, with whom she and the children live, arrived at the scene with another of Egold’s children, also a boy, he said. Fuller’s wife took the boy in the house as the woman stayed with Egold, he said.

“A guy came up the road on a motorcycle. He saw the kids lying there and he ran over and he gave the kids CPR until rescue showed up. I’ve been trying to get his name and nobody seems to know it.”

The Fullers live on Hussey Road, about 1/4-mile from downtown Albion where he said Egold lives. Well-kept older and newer homes dot the roadside and have scenic views of hills and fields.

Friday’s hit-and-run was horrendous, according to Fuller, who said he is dealing with the tragedy.

“I don’t want to see anything like that again — never,” he said. “I feel so bad for the mother and I feel so bad for the kids. Horrible. My wife feels the same way.”

Fuller said he hopes the helpful young man on the motorcycle, whom he believes is in his 20s, will come and speak with him.

“He was a blessing in disguise — he really was,” Fuller said.

LOCAL SUPPORT

Monday afternoon at 202 General, a store on Main Street in downtown Albion, people were talking about Egold, who had worked there about two months before the hit-and-run.

“She was really sweet and she was just trying to take care of her family,” store manager Elsie Barnett said.

Barnett said Egold was quiet and came in, did her work as a cashier, and then returned home.

She and store owner William Wahlefield said Egold is a nice woman, and it is sad that such a tragedy happened while she was just taking her children for a walk.

“All you can do is say a prayer, right?” Wahlefield said.

Store employees have set up a donation jar for Egold, and they plan to put one in Wahlefield’s other store, Route 32 General Store, in China, Barnett said.

Both they and Fuller said they were told Egold had another son who died in a canoeing accident in 2017 in Vassalboro.

According to a Morning Sentinel story, that boy, William Egold, was 5 and died when the canoe he and his mother were in capsized in a stream and he was held underwater by debris. Both had been wearing safety vests at the time, authorities said.

A GoFundMe account has been set up for the family at www.gofundme.com/f/support-martha-and-mollie-after-tragic-loss.