AUGUSTA — An Atkinson man driving a truck that hit another vehicle which then struck and killed a Madison nurse while she was trying to help another motorist on Interstate 95 last year in Waterville has been indicted on a manslaughter charge.
Bradford L. Enos, 40, was driving a pickup truck towing a car carrier Nov. 25, 2022, on I-95 in icy conditions, when he struck the vehicle that then crashed into Michelle Demchak, 59.
Demchak was walking on the side of the interstate near Messalonskee bridge, seeking to help another motorist who had been in an earlier crash. There were at least 10 crashes on I-95 that day, some of them secondary crashes as traffic backed up, according to Shannon Moss, public information officer for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
The Department of Public Safety initially reported Enos’ truck had hit Demchak.
A state crash report states Enos, driving a 2018 Ford pickup, “drove too fast for conditions.” The report states Demchak was walking back to check on a motorist who had been in a previous crash when the truck driven by Enos was changing lanes and lost control and struck one of the vehicles that had been in the first crash, causing it to strike Demchak and trapping her under the vehicle.
Demchak was known to be compassionate, and an expert nurse known for stepping up to help, according to Kathy Phelan, program director of MaineGeneral Home Care and Hospice. She was known “as a go-to person both for her experience and skill,” someone who put others’ needs first, and who was supportive of her team and her patients.
In 2020, Demchak was the recipient of the DAISY Award, an honor given by the Daisy Foundation to nurses with extraordinary skills and compassion, MaineGeneral officials said.
Enos was indicted by a Kennebec County grand jury in late August on a Class A manslaughter charge, punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
An indictment is not a determination of guilt but indicates enough evidence exists for a case to move forward to trial.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
