Police have changed their theory of who was responsible for the crash that left two motorcyclists dead on Interstate 95 north as the annual United Bikers of Maine Toy Run got underway Sept. 10.
Now Maine State Police say the younger motorcyclist who died, Aaron White-Sevigny, 25, of Windsor, started the chain reaction collision.
Last week, they announced that the older motorcyclist, Jamie Gross, 58, of Belmont had caused the crash by veering into the passing lane in front of a pickup truck. Gross died at the scene while White-Sevigny died at a hospital.
On Wednesday, they issued a correction “based on new information,” according to a press release by Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
“Troopers continue to investigate the crash,” McCausland noted. “They say the correction was based on interviews and examinations of the motorcycles.”
The ride involved several thousand motorcyclists who gathered first at the Augusta Civic Center and then went on a mass ride to the Windsor Fairgrounds, heading north only briefly on I-95 between exits 112 and 113.
McCausland’s news release indicated that the families of both motorcyclists were contacted and told of the new information.
Jennifer White-Sevigny, Aaron’s mother, said Wednesday that she did not believe information should be posted yet about who is responsible. White-Sevigny said she was trying to reach the state police to tell them so. She also said the family was told the investigation was on-going.
“There’s 30 witnesses they haven’t interviewed yet,” she said.
McCausland did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking confirmation of how many witnesses there are left to interview or why police released results before the investigation is complete.
Attempts to reach relatives of Gross for comment on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Police had said the pickup was in the passing lane being driven by William Nusom, 67, with his mother, Anna Nusom, 99, as a passenger while the motorcycles were in the travel lane. All were heading north.
Police said Nusom, 67, of Hollis, attempted to avoid striking the motorcycle that veered into his lane and steered into the median guardrail.
He lost control of the truck, traveled back across three northbound lanes and struck other motorcycles participating in the Toy Run.
Nusom’s truck overturned on its side.
Four other people, were injured in the crash, and taken to the nearby MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta.
Two other motorcyclists, Trevor Proctor, 50, and Tori McGraw, 46, were sent to the hospital with road rash. Both Nusoms were sent to the hospital with minor injuries.
The crash, which occurred just after noon that day, closed the northbound lanes of the interstate for several hours.
White-Sevigny was father to a 1-year-old son and was engaged to be married, according to his obituary published in the Kennebec Journal. A GoFundMe page was created to raise money for funeral expenses and living expenses for his son, Lucas, and had raised more than $6,400 as of Wednesday.
Gross was born in Frankfort and loved to fish, hunt and collect minerals. Recently, according to his obituary in the Penobscot Bay Pilot, he began taking long motorcycle rides.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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