WALDOBORO — Jeffrey Moran didn’t see the bicyclist riding in the middle of the dark, narrow road until it was too late.

When he got out of the sport utility vehicle he was driving and approached the man he had just hit, Moran recognized him.

It was his longtime friend Jessie Hayden.

Moran, 27, was actually on his way to pick Hayden up and was less than a half-mile from his friend’s house when the accident occurred, about 8:30 p.m. Saturday on Feylers Corner Road in Waldoboro, according to police and family members.

Hayden, 31, died at the scene.

Moran was arrested on a charge of criminal operating under the influence. Police say he had been drinking.

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Waldoboro Police Chief Bill Labombarde said the accident is under investigation and he could not release many details. But he said the event has been tragic for the community, particularly because the two men knew each other well.

“These guys were not troublemakers by any means,” the chief said. “They were just local guys.”

Labombarde said a 13-year-old also was in the SUV with Moran at the time of the accident and has been interviewed as a witness. The chief did not provide the teen’s name, sex or connection to Moran.

Labombarde also said it appears Hayden was riding in the middle of the road with no lights on his bicycle and was not wearing anything reflective. He said an autopsy will be conducted on Hayden, including a toxicology test to see if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Moran voluntarily submitted to sobriety tests and failed, Labombarde said. He was arrested and charged with criminal operating under the influence, considered a Class B felony when it results in a death.

Moran was initially taken to Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset but posted cash bail in the amount of $10,000. His arraignment is scheduled for January.

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Friends and family members of both Hayden and Moran said the two were friends – best friends even – but declined to talk further, saying they were too upset.

A family member of Moran’s confirmed that he was on his way to pick up Hayden when the accident occurred. They didn’t know why Hayden was riding his bicycle so late at night.

Moran’s house, on Waldoboro Road in Washington, the next town over, is about 6 miles from Hayden’s house on Feylers Corner Road.

No one answered the door at Moran’s house on Monday or Tuesday. At Hayden’s house, a young woman answered the door early Tuesday afternoon. When asked whether she or anyone else would talk about Hayden, she politely said, “No thank you,” and closed the door.

The house on Feylers Corner Road is slightly rundown, with debris strewn across the front lawn, including old dirt bikes, vehicles and hundreds of beer bottles and cans. A small sign on the front door reads, “God bless the freaks.”

It was not immediately clear whether Moran had a current job. At several locations around Waldoboro on Tuesday, no one said they knew him.

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Moran has no prior OUI convictions, but has been cited for failing to display a valid inspection sticker four times in the last five years, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

He also was charged with driving with a suspended license in 2001 and 2011 and with illegal transportation of liquor in 2005.

Hayden’s license, including a commercial truck license, had been suspended since 2011. He was charged with driving drunk in July 2007 and had his license suspended for six months. Before it could be reinstated, he was suspended again for failing to pay a fine, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

In 2009, Hayden was charged with driving with a passenger who had an open alcoholic beverage and had his license suspended indefinitely. The suspension continued when he failed to pay fines in March 2011 and November 2011, the most recent entries on his driving record.

Staff Writers Leslie Bridgers and David Hench contributed to this report.

 


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