Alcohol, speed, lack of seatbelts
contribute to fatal crash
By David Hench dhench@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
Cumberland County's chief deputy says speed, alcohol and the lack of seatbelts all played a factor in a fatal crash in Standish early Sunday.
D'Ann Seidell Bochese, 45, of Windham was killed when the 2007 Subaru Legacy she was driving careened off the road, police say.
Courtesy Cumberland County Sheriff's Office
Sheriff's deputies were called to Oak Hill Road and Serena Lane at 12:20 a.m. for a two-car crash. They found one driver dead, suspended in a tree 40 feet above the car she was driving, said Chief Deputy Kevin Joyce. A passenger in that car also was thrown from the vehicle and ended up alongside a stream with serious injuries.
A second car flipped several times as it tumbled 200 feet over a field before coming to rest on its wheels. Although the driver and two passengers were injured, none of their injuries were critical. The driver, at least, was wearing a seatbelt, deputies said.
The people involved, who knew each other, had recently come from Memory Lane, a nearby club where one of the passengers who was not seriously injured had been refused further service because he was intoxicated, Joyce said.
Investigators also are trying to determine whether that passenger may have contributed to the crash by distracting the driver and fooling around with the emergency brake, Joyce said.
That car, a white 1997 Subaru Legacy, and the one in which the driver was killed, a blue 2007 Subaru Legacy, had been traveling well in excess of the 45 mph speed limit when the blue car attempted to pass and they collided, sending both cars careening off the road, Joyce said.
Killed in the crash was D'Ann Seidell Bochese, 45, of Windham.
The driver of the white Subaru, Tyler Gordon, 22, of Standish, was wearing a seatbelt, investigators said.
Were you interviewed for this story? If so, please fill out our accuracy form
Most...
Copyright ©2010 MaineToday Media, Inc.
44 COMMENTS
Iwatch said...
Another alcohol fatality and serious injuries. I feel so bad for all of these senseless tragedies. To prevent these happenings, some serious strict laws/rules must be put into place. Of course these rules would be resisted by bar owners and careless people.
March 15, 2010 at 12:24 PM Report abuse
mygirl99 said...
Why would a 45 year old woman be racing a bunch of kids??
March 15, 2010 at 12:33 PM Report abuse
ModerateOne said...
mygirl, did you miss the part about alcohol being involved? I really doubt if additional rules or laws will eliminate all of these events. Given all that has been written and discussed over the past 35 years, and the fact that highway deaths fell to an historic low last year I really wonder if there is anything that we can do to reach the remaining drivers who insist on this type of behavior.
March 15, 2010 at 12:43 PM Report abuse
kbker said...
yet another alcohol related accident that minimum drinking age laws could do nothing to prevent
March 15, 2010 at 12:44 PM Report abuse
Klown said...
Mygirl People do really really stupid things after consuming alcohol! I feel bad for her friends and family! Stay home if you have to drink. Call a taxi if you are out. Don't drink and drive! I think all first time DWI offenders should spend a manditory minimum of 9 months in the county jail and 3 years loss of license.
March 15, 2010 at 12:47 PM Report abuse
coreyt said...
Reminds me of the novel Empire Falls. The main character's brother was drunk driving and ended up in a tree like this but only broke an arm.
March 15, 2010 at 12:51 PM Report abuse
marinegal said...
We have enough laws in place. Having more would not have saved the life of this woman. It's not the bar's fault she was in a fatal motor vehicle collision. The bar removes people who appear intoxicated. It's not the bar's responsibility to test alcohol levels on those driving off. The police regularly patrol that area and do pull people over. Unfortunately, there is no way to catch every person who is driving after having too much to drink. It's not more laws, it's more enforcement of the ones we have. There's just not enough money out there to pay for the enforcement required to be effective. This certainly is a tragedy. I’m sorry for the family that has lost a loved one.
March 15, 2010 at 12:57 PM Report abuse
marinegal said...
@ Klown - that punishment would certainly be deterrent but not realistic. There is no way the state could afford to build the space and take care of the offenders for that amount of time.
March 15, 2010 at 1:02 PM Report abuse
gotogoal said...
This another sad and tragic story. Let's be honest - we TOLERATE under-age drinking in many of our communities....slaps on the wrist is all they get. Until we (communities) wake up and start with some tough love when they're in high school, these stories will continue. How many towns around here allow their teens to be caught drinking and still be a team captain for a HS sports team. Oh - Suzie just write a letter and then the Principal will allow you to be captain of the soccer team.....even though you continue to be a party girl. (the principal doesn't have street smarts). This happens in community after community.....and in a few years, some of those team captains will inevitably be in headline grabbing stories like this. Wake up Maine communities - stop accepting teen drinking.
March 15, 2010 at 1:09 PM Report abuse
Klown said...
The laws that are in place now for first time DWI offenders are a joke! House arrest and monitoring are other alternatives but incarceration sends a message! There would be lesser reoffences overtime I guarantee it when people get the message that they will spend 9 months in jail. There is plenty of space to house these offenders and raising the tax on booze instead of tobacco would help defray the cost to the state as well as a $5,000 fine.
March 15, 2010 at 1:15 PM Report abuse
ModerateOne said...
I knew that the big government more/stronger laws (with more spending) gang would show up sometime.
March 15, 2010 at 1:22 PM Report abuse
Obamination said...
"Why would a 45 year old woman be racing a bunch of kids??" Answer: She wasn't. There is a possibility the guy she was with, the brother of the other driver, was really driving. And now he's lying about who was driving to avoid culpability. Doesn't that make a lot more sense?
March 15, 2010 at 1:40 PM Report abuse
august1 said...
Just curious, some of you are talking about underage drinking, I read only 2 ages released and they were both of legal drinking age? Were the others with them underaged?
March 15, 2010 at 2:00 PM Report abuse
marinegal said...
Did I miss something? I didn't read where this had anything to do with underage drinking.
March 15, 2010 at 2:06 PM Report abuse
mutt said...
Gotogoal. Punishment is not the answer. Education is and lowering the drinking age back to 18 and incorporating responibiluty back into the equation. amethyst initiative
March 15, 2010 at 2:14 PM Report abuse
Klown said...
Obamination. It's hard to say who was driving since both occupants were ejected from that vehicle. If a vehicle rolls to the drivers side first there is more centrifugal force exerted on the passengers side of a vehicle and a passenger is more likely to be thrown farther from the vehicle than a driver. When a vehicle rolls to the passenger side first the forces of ejection are greater on the driver. If there are any skid marks it would easy to tell how the car went into a roll. It does sound like a drivers side roll and that would account for a passenger being flung up into a tree.
March 15, 2010 at 2:31 PM Report abuse
null said...
Tell you what Maine has a very tough 1st time law-it's the ones who refuse the education piece that is enforced w/it-that make it not work to the max.Mutt you've got it on the head when we all take responsibility for our actions the world would be a better place.
March 15, 2010 at 2:40 PM Report abuse
Q05DTw%3D%3D said...
CNCO said... It seems to me that there is a lot of speculations in you reporting of this tragedy that is extremely insensitive to the friends and relatives of the victim of ths accident...yes I am one of those friends. I know for a fact that at the time of the printing of this article that an an autopsy has not been performed. We accually do not knw for sure who was driving. How can one say that alcohol was involved? It might turn out to be true but until the facts of the incident are confirmed, spculations of this source shold not be put into print. The pree Herald seems only to be interested in getting a scoop and selling newspapers.......Dee Dee you will be missed greatly by all who knew you .
March 15, 2010 at 2:51 PM Report abuse
jake007 said...
All blame aside for a moment,that brutal accident. Telephone poles are approx. 30ft so thats a lot of force to be throw that high. Very sad.
March 15, 2010 at 2:53 PM Report abuse
T3V0aG91c2VSYXQ%3D said...
Iwatch....what exactly would you propose? The drivers and passengers did this to themselves. Nothing tragic, just stupid. THe familys are left to grieve and make sense of it all, trying to legislate an answer will never work....the laws are already there, people will be people.
March 15, 2010 at 3:01 PM Report abuse
NH said...
I don't see the entertainment in getting stinking drunk and driving.
March 15, 2010 at 3:11 PM Report abuse
Obamination said...
"We accually do not knw for sure who was driving." (from previous post) At the risk of going out on a limb, I was only questioning the certainty with which this report specified which occupant was driving. The reporting seems to indicate police sources are saying so. But that didn't make sense. I presume they are interrogating the witnesses (survivors) as to this probability. Reconstructing can't really determine which is true or more likely. When you're going 60 + mph and the vehicle suddenly stops within 200 feet, you're still going 60 + mph and pretty much toast. Dommage.
March 15, 2010 at 3:12 PM Report abuse
Klown said...
Losing a loved one in any fashion is never easy for the family or friends, regardless of the circumstances. It is human nature for people to speculate and want to understand what happened. I don't believe people purposefully intend to undermine the feelings of her friends and family by speculatively discussing this accident.
March 15, 2010 at 3:40 PM Report abuse
Rocky4 said...
So am I supposed to feel sorry for these idiots? NO WAY!
March 15, 2010 at 4:09 PM Report abuse
ModerateOne said...
Rocky, I don't believe anybody would ever ask you to feel anything.
March 15, 2010 at 4:12 PM Report abuse
outdoorsnut said...
Candidates for the Darwin award. You can't legislate away stupidity.
March 15, 2010 at 4:22 PM Report abuse
ModerateOne said...
outdoorsnut said... Candidates for the Darwin award. You can't legislate away stupidity. While I am not condoning any of this behavior, isn't there anybody here except me that is honest enough to admit "There for the grace of God go I?"
March 15, 2010 at 4:27 PM Report abuse
supertrooper said...
WELLS PD ARE DIRTY COPS.
March 15, 2010 at 6:18 PM Report abuse
Festus2 said...
Sad stuff for sure. That area IS well patrolled by county and state police. We just can't prevent all accidents.
March 15, 2010 at 7:05 PM Report abuse
bergy said...
Alcohol, speed, lack of seatbelts contribute to fatal crash this is news? maybe for the dead guy?
March 15, 2010 at 8:59 PM Report abuse
umpy said...
I say close memory lane and all byob night spots ! Where is MADD with this one ,just because no truck involved they don't say anything !
March 15, 2010 at 9:30 PM Report abuse
Angie said...
I wish more folks would think about the implications of drinking and driving before they get behind a wheel. I think having pictures of these type of scenes on the doors out of drinking establishments might help!
March 15, 2010 at 10:19 PM Report abuse
dGhn said...
The article said that a person was found in a tree 40 feet above where the car ended up. It did not say the person was thrown 40 feet into the tree. I believe it likely that the occupant was thrown from the car into a tree and then the car traveled down an embankment. Not quite as spectacular as the article would suggest.
March 15, 2010 at 10:21 PM Report abuse
UofA said...
Iwatch- Do you think that this driver was forced to drink the booze or possibly was stupid in driving? The Bar owner is in business and cut one person off. The guilty one was the driver, not the bar owner. Blame someone else for your stupid mistakes? There is too much of this in Maine now. That is why so many lawyers prowl the roads at night looking for work!
March 16, 2010 at 4:09 AM Report abuse
UofA said...
dGhn- So the person was thrown into the tree and then the car went down a 40 ft. embankment? How man 40 ft gullies are there next to a road in Maine. Especially without guard rails that I am sure would have been tore up but not mentioned in this article.
March 16, 2010 at 4:48 AM Report abuse
otisslee said...
C'mon U of A, the article includes pictures for people like you. Do you see that long silver thing running diagonal across the photo? That is a guard rail. And yes, it appears to have been damaged.
March 16, 2010 at 5:33 AM Report abuse
dGhn said...
From today's article/update: "The blue Subaru driven by Bochese went airborne after crossing the field, Joyce said. As the car launched off the guardrail along Serena Lane, Bochese was thrown from the car -- possibly through the sunroof -- and landed on a pair of tree branches, he said. Her car landed upside-down at the base of a ravine 100 feet beyond the guardrail." Imagine that, a guardrail and a ravine.
March 16, 2010 at 7:35 AM Report abuse
Now_now said...
"umpy said... I say close memory lane and all byob night spots" Memory Lane is NOT BYOB and they did nothing wrong in this. In fact Memory has more patrolling in their parking lot than any bar I have ever been to. You cant baby sit adults 24/7.. people make mistakes, period. Things like this happen... they always have and they always will.
March 16, 2010 at 8:29 AM Report abuse
Seandog said...
First of all, there are no accidents. This was an accident. These people had a choice to get behind the wheel of a vehicle, had a choice to exceed in their speed, If they were even remotely concerned about their well being, they would have known that wearing a seatbelt is not a choice but the law. No amount of laws would have made a difference to these people. The only thing good that can come of this is to read it, and learn from it. we are not invinsible no matter what we choose to do. damn lucky that there were no children or an innocent family involved who don't have a choice when an adult makes a wrong decision for themselves to drink and drive. Shame on them!
March 16, 2010 at 9:32 AM Report abuse
Seandog said...
I ment to say, there are no accidents, this was a crash!!! make the right choices, people!!! stop calling them car accidents. they are car crashs because someone made a bad choice, whether it was the speed, the alcohol, or texting, talking on the phone, goofing around,or daydreaming, let's get back to basics,people. just drive the car,. it's that simple, no laws needed.
March 16, 2010 at 9:46 AM Report abuse
august1 said...
It is sad for the family that is grieving such a horrible mistake made by the driver. Some of you are saying to implicate a more serious DUI law, I don't agree, it will always happen no matter what the laws are. People make that decision to get behind the wheel and they are not thinking about the law. I have been on the receiving end of that, having a family member die for being in a car with someone that was intoxicated, driver walked away.....my nephew didn't.
March 16, 2010 at 11:22 AM Report abuse
bXlwZXRyYWJiaXQ%3D said...
1st off, who said SHE was legally drunk. Test results are NOT back yet. Obviously from the Bar, one guy WAS drunk. He was refused service. If a passenger was pulling the e-brake up, who's to say he didn't grab the wheel and he tried to block her pass. It's not a closed deal just because you read a few words in a paper. She has no say. They can lie. Seriously people before you speak, take 2 more minutes and think about all the different scenarios that may have played a part in this terrible accident. I know that road, she could have made a complete pass in that particular section.
March 16, 2010 at 9:16 PM Report abuse
Now_now said...
well said bXlwZXRyYWJiaXQ%3D, people are too quick to judge.
March 17, 2010 at 8:47 AM Report abuse
EdShelby said...
A 45 year old can be just as much of a loser as a 20 something year old.
March 17, 2010 at 10:12 AM Report abuse