Investigators hope the event data recorder in a New York woman’s car will help explain why she drove out of control into several cars and people in Port Clyde Aug. 11, killing a 9-year-old boy.
A preliminary accident report into the deadly collision near the Monhegan Boat Line dock says there was no immediate indication why Cheryl Torgerson, 61, of New York City sped through a series of crashes before her car finally came to rest, pinning the boy’s mother against another car.
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Torgerson’s 2007 blue Infiniti “was slowing to make a turn onto the Monhegan Boat dock (and) for an unknown reason accelerated,” Knox County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Spear said in the report dated Aug. 12.
A technician with the Maine State Police on Wednesday downloaded information from the vehicle’s event data recorder, though the data has not been analyzed, said Knox County Sheriff Donna Dennison. The recorder will show information about the car’s speed and whether the brakes were applied among other things.
Next week, a reconstructionist with the Maine State Police will disassemble parts of the car to determine whether a malfunction contributed to the crashes, Dennison said.
Torgerson’s driving history is relatively clean, with just a single infraction for failure to stop for a traffic device one year ago, according to a spokesman for the New York Department of Motor Vehicles. She has no crashes on her driving history, he said.
The brief accident narrative describes how Torgerson’s car hit a 2012 Honda that had stopped in front of her and pushed it out of the way, then hit the corner of a building before hitting Jonathan Coggeshall, 68, of Port Clyde, who was standing alongside the building.
The car continued to accelerate past the building, first hitting six parked cars, then three people walking on the dock. The car knocked Wyatt Gold, 6, and Dylan Gold, 9, of Cohasset, Mass., into the air. Wyatt was thrown between two parked cars, but Dylan landed on the ground and was run over, the report said.
When Torgerson’s car finally stopped, the boys’ mother, Allison Gold, 50, was pinned between it and a parked car.
Dylan Gold died on the way to the hospital.
Torgerson was not injured. The report notes that results of a blood test, required in all crashes with serious injuries, is pending. Torgerson told police she doesn’t know what happened.
Allison and Wyatt Gold were taken by helicopter to Maine Medical Center in Portland. The boy was released from the hospital last week. Allison Gold, who was critically injured, has improved and is now listed in satisfactory condition.
The boys’ father, Howard Gold, was in the family’s van when the accident occurred and was not harmed.
Coggeshall was treated for injuries at Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport.
The Port Clyde section of St. George is a popular summer tourist destination and many of the witnesses and victims were from out of state.
Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:
dhench@mainetoday.com
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