The couple injured in a head-on wreck involving a driver who ought to have misplaced his license months earlier has filed a lawsuit towards the person. The hassle could make clear whether or not the driving force had permission to make use of a member of the family’s automobile regardless of a decide’s sentence that ought to have revoked his license.
Nicole Kumiega and Ethan Wyman have been injured March 4 when a pickup truck pushed by Ethan Rioux-Poulios, 26, of Woodstock, crossed the middle line alongside Oxford Avenue in Paris as he fled a visitors cease by Oxford Police. The crash set Rioux-Poulios’s truck on hearth, however he fled once more, stole a automobile parked close by and led officers on a second leg of a pursuit that resulted in his arrest, in keeping with court docket data.
The couple’s legal professional filed the lawsuit out of concern that an insurance coverage declare might be denied as a result of the truck Rioux-Poulios was driving was owned by his father, John Poulios, who has distanced himself from his son’s wreck and claimed to know nothing about it when reached in March by a reporter. Poulios, who runs J.P. and Son Paving, didn’t return a message in search of an interview final week.
The three-page grievance, filed final week in Cumberland County Unified Court docket, alleges Rioux-Poulios was negligent and didn’t function his automobile in a protected and cheap method when he crashed the 2010 F-150 pickup head-on into Kumiega’s 2020 Ford Edge SUV, gravely injuring her. The lawsuit alleges that Rioux-Poulios was intoxicated on the time. Police discovered what seemed to be drug residue on a bit of aluminum foil in his pants pocket when he was arrested, court docket data present.
The couple’s legal professional, Taylor Asen, of the Portland agency Gideon Asen LLC, stated the lawsuit will allow an unbiased investigation, separate from the insurance coverage firm’s work, to find out whether or not Poulios had permitted his son to make use of the automobile, a key consider figuring out whether or not or not Poulios’ insurance coverage will cowl the declare and pay up.
“In the event that they (deny the declare), which means our shoppers shall be left to see if they will get any cash out of Mr. Rioux-Poulios, which looks as if a most unlikely prospect provided that he’s spent a whole lot of the final couple years in jail, in jail,” Asen stated. “That will be a horrible injustice, and we would have liked to file this lawsuit so we are able to, partially, examine the protection points ourselves.”
Asen stated he hopes the lawsuit will generate tips on Poulios’ relationship together with his son and whether or not the 2 had an settlement, even tacitly, that Rioux-Poulios was permitted to make use of his father’s automobile.
“We’re going to search for corroborating witnesses who can assist us perceive what occurred that day and the way Ethan-Rioux Poulios acquired entry to his father’s automobile, and at last we’re going to have a look at some data that may hopefully assist us perceive the character of their relationship, hopefully emails and telephone data.”
A request for an interview despatched to Rioux-Poulios’s legal professional, Laura Maher, went unanswered.
Rioux-Poulios was convicted of 1 rely of manslaughter for an eerily related crash that adopted a 2019 police chase, a sentence that ought to have triggered the revocation of his license. However the revocation by no means went by due to a bureaucratic hole in how the courts and the Bureau of Motor Automobiles have been sharing data when a driver had been convicted of against the law that ought to set off a revocation or suspension.
He pleaded responsible to manslaughter in July 2021 and was sentenced to serve two years of a seven-year time period and launched on time served. The crash on Route 26 in Woodstock on Might 20, 2019 killed 70-year-old John Pikiell of Norway.
Press Herald reporting after the current crash delivered to mild the truth that Rioux-Poulios nonetheless had his license regardless of his conviction.
The courts and the BMV responded by creating a brand new course of that they are saying will reliably convey the conviction data to the BMV, nevertheless it’s nonetheless unknown what number of circumstances slipped by the cracks as Rioux-Poulios’ did earlier than the brand new course of took impact. State prosecutors have promised to assessment 10 years of circumstances to look at how widespread the issue could have been up to now.
Since Rioux-Poulios’ crash, the state has recognized fewer than a half dozen current circumstances by which drivers convicted of great crimes comparable to manslaughter didn’t lose their licenses as supposed. BMV workers say they’re working to acquire the required data to droop these drivers.
Rioux-Poulios was nonetheless on probation for his manslaughter conviction when he was rearrested in March, and is being held on the Oxford County Jail on $75,000 money bail. He faces fees together with two counts of aggravated assault, reckless conduct with a harmful weapon, eluding an officer, driving to hazard and leaving the scene of a motorcar accident involving critical bodily damage.
Earlier than the wreck, Kumiega, 28, had not too long ago begun work as a labor and supply nurse at Maine Medical Heart, stated Asen. Her accidents almost killed her, and she or he has spent the almost two months for the reason that crash making gradual progress towards restoration.
Kumiega’s accidents included lacerations to her liver and spleen, a mind contusion, harm to her lungs and coronary heart and fractures in her pelvis, again and arms, in keeping with the lawsuit. Her restoration will take months if not years, Asen stated, and it’s probably she is going to dwell with the results of the crash without end.
Wyman’s bodily accidents, which included extreme contusions, have been much less catastrophic, however he skilled extreme emotional misery, Asen stated. He needed to name Kumiega’s dad and mom to tell them of the crash and to inform them that their daughter may not survive.
Asen stated Kumiega could by no means totally get better, and nonetheless has a protracted highway forward earlier than she will be able to resume work and dwell a standard life.
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