FARMINGTON — A man who police say caused a fatal crash Monday in Woodstock was driving 87 mph when a deputy tried to stop him on Route 26, according to a police affidavit released Wednesday.

Ethan John Rioux-Poulios, 23, of Woodstock has been charged with manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident that killed a Norway man. A Franklin County judge Wednesday set bail at $100,000.

Police say John Pikiell, 7o, was killed when a vehicle driven by Rioux-Poulios struck Pikiell’s 2015 Subaru Outback from behind.

If convicted, Rioux-Poulios would face up to 30 years in prison on the manslaughter charge and five years for leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury or death.

Rioux-Poulios, held at the Oxford County Jail in Paris, appeared via videoconference before Judge Charles Dow in a Franklin County court.

Dow ordered Rioux-Poulios to have no contact with his father, John Poulios, who was charged with hindering apprehension for lying to police. John Poulios posted $5,000 cash bail Monday night.

According to court documents, Oxford County Deputy Zane Loper was driving south on Route 26 when he clocked Rioux-Poulios’ 2005 silver Mercury Montego at 87 mph in a 55-mph zone. Loper turned and tried to stop Rioux-Poulios but lost sight of the vehicle.

As Loper attempted to catch up with Rioux-Poulios, he was flagged down by another person who told him that Rioux-Poulios’ silver sedan caused the crash that killed Pikiell. His 2015 Subaru Outback was hit from behind and forced off the road.

Oxford County Cpl. Justin Brown found debris from the Mercury Montego at the scene. After checking a police database, Brown found that John Poulios owned a car with that description.

Brown went to John Poulios’ home at 528 South Main St., where he found tire marks in the dirt driveway and the Mercury Montego parked behind the residence with extensive front-end damage, keys still in the ignition.

Poulios said he wasn’t driving the vehicle and that he didn’t know where his son Ethan was. According to court documents, Poulios said his son “wasn’t even driving.”

Brown drafted a search warrant and the house and grounds were searched by police dogs and the Maine State Police Tactical Team. Ethan Rioux-Poulios was not found.

Throughout the day Monday, police received calls from people who saw a person matching Poulios’ description running through backyards, over railroad tracks and along snowmobile trails. At one point, officers spotted Rioux-Poulios but lost track of him.

According to court documents, John Crouch III of Jackson Crossing Road in West Paris on Tuesday found Rioux-Poulios in his home, watching television. Poulios asked Crouch  if he could use the phone to call his father, and Crouch  told him that he needed to leave. Poulios said “he wasn’t going to jail,” Crouch said and asked Crouch not to call the police. Crouch walked next door to his father and stepmother’s house. They called police.

Officers found Rioux-Poulios leaving a camper on the property and ordered him down on the ground.

Rioux-Poulios was arrested at 11:53 a.m. Tuesday, originally on a probation hold.

Around 12:25 p.m. Monday, surveillance footage from The Big Apple Store on Route 26 in West Paris showed a silver sedan presumed to be Rioux-Poulios’ traveling north and turning left onto Main Street in West Paris. Ten minutes later, and about 10 minutes before the crash, the same sedan turned north onto Route 26, about 5 miles from where the crash took place.

 

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