Bail was set at $2,500 cash Friday for a woman accused in a fatal hit-and-run in Westbrook on Tuesday.
Superior Court Justice Andrew Horton also ordered that Natasha D. Field, 32, of Standish not be allowed to drive or have car keys in her possession. She is also subject to random searches for the car keys.
Field, who has a history of driving violations, is accused of failing to stop after hitting Sharon E. Crawford, 51, of Westbrook at the intersection of William Clarke Drive and Stroudwater Street. She is charged with leaving the scene of an accident and violating conditions of her release.
Field did not speak during a hearing Friday at the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland, only nodding yes when asked if she understood the charges against her. During the brief hearing, she leaned with both hands on the railing in front of her and appeared to be chewing gum.
About a dozen relatives of Crawford attended Field’s initial court appearance and voiced anger at the low amount of bail.
“Is that for real?” Jennifer Libby, Crawford’s niece, said after the hearing. “They should have made the stakes a lot higher for her. She took my aunt’s life.”
In most cases, $2,500 bail would be considered “substantial” for a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, said David Weyrens, a Portland defense attorney with 16 years of experience. Often someone who is charged with leaving the scene of an accident is released on personal recognizance, or bail is set in the hundreds of dollars, he said.
Weyrens said he believes that the bail set in Field’s case, considering the charges against her, “reflect the gravity of the accident.” He said there are no legal guidelines on the amount of bail for specific charges and that the judge in each case has wide discretion. The prosecution agreed to the bail.
Field was released on bail early Friday evening, according to staff at the Cumberland County Jail.
Libby said her aunt was going to the market for cigarettes when the crash occurred about 7:15 p.m. Tuesday. She said her aunt always used the crosswalks – although Westbrook police said they are still trying to determine where Crawford was when she was struck – and was familiar with the route.
Libby described her aunt as kind to the point where Libby sometimes had to step in to prevent others from taking advantage of her. Crawford also had mental disabilities that made it hard for those who didn’t know her to understand her, Libby said.
Prosecutors said authorities are still waiting for the results of a blood test that Field submitted to after her arrest Tuesday night at a home in Standish.
Police have not said what led them to arrest Field, but Libby said her ex-husband, who lives next to the intersection and heard the crash, said police were interviewing witnesses at the scene Tuesday evening.
Field has no publicly available criminal history in Maine, according to the State Bureau of Identification, but she does have 12 driving infractions, nine of them for speeding, spanning 2006 to 2015.
None involved criminal speeding, which under Maine law is driving 30 mph or more over the speed limit.
Witnesses told police that Field slowed down after striking Crawford, but then sped away.
A 10-year driver history report, which was obtained from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, shows that Field’s driver’s license was temporarily suspended in early 2007 and then restored later that year in connection with a 2005 incident that involved leaving the scene of a property damage accident. She was also convicted in 2006 of violating the state’s seat belt law and failure to display a valid inspection sticker in 2016.
Staff Writer Ray Routhier contributed to this report.
Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:
emurphy@pressherald.com
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