UNION — Following an independent investigation into a double-fatal car crash in Union in December, which claimed the lives of a Litchfield teen and a Rockland teen, the Knox County Sheriff's Office has determined that speed was to blame, not alcohol or drugs.

The Dec. 5, 2015, accident involved a Rockport reserve police officer, who initiated a stop for speeding in his town that turned into a chase before the officer ended the pursuit. Nonetheless, the driver of the vehicle that failed to stop ultimately crashed, killing himself and another passenger, and injuring a third.

Responding to questions for the first time since the incident, Rockport Police Chief Mark Kelley said Friday that he felt Cooley "acted properly" throughout the course of the tragic incident.

"I can with great honesty say I believe he acted properly, that he acted as any officer in a similar circumstance would," said Kelley.

The investigation was launched due to the fact that Reserve Officer Craig Cooley had initial contact with the vehicle and its driver, who failed to stop for him for allegedly speeding in Rockport. While requesting assistance from Knox County Sheriff's Office or Maine State Police, according to a transcript of the dispatch radio communications, Cooley pursued the vehicle out of Rockport, then into Hope and finally Union, where it made what would be a fateful turn down onto Wottons Mills Road.

Caleb Byras, 17, of Litchfield, was driving his grandmother's 2001 Subaru Legacy with 16-year-old Kara Brewer of Rockland in the front seat and 17-year-old Emily Vitale in the back seat. According to the report, Byras was supposed to be at his father's house earlier that evening, and his mother had no idea why he would have been in Rockland in the first place.

Bryas' mother also told one of the investigating officers, Deputy Paul Spear, that she did not know the girls who were with her son, and of the 150 kids at his funeral, none of them seemed to know who the two girls were either.

According to the dispatch radio transcripts, Cooley notified Knox County Regional Communications at 11:38:45 that he had "one refusing to stop Route 17 Westbound. It's going to be the same one I had by... the last stop here."

At 11:39:27, Cooley told the dispatcher he was "about to go over the line into Hope." At 11:40:41, he reported he was passing over into Union and at 11:41:14, Cooley said, "Now he's turning on to Wotton's Mill now."

While Knox County deputies were heading in Cooley's direction, Cooley came back on the radio at 11:42:45 and said he was on Wotton's Mill and had lost the car. Then he said, "I'm just to continue along cause the way he is operating...yeah, I've got him right here in the trees."

According to the accident report, Byrus failed to negotiate a right hand turn on Wottons Mills Road, near Davis Road. The car left the roadway, struck some trees and eventually split into two. Byras and Brewer were declared dead at the scene. Vitale was found down the road, where she and the back half of the car came to rest after the violent crash, injured but able to stand.

Cooley immediately requested Union Fire and Ambulance, according to the transcript, and reported that it may be a possible fatal accident.

At the scene, Spear said he met with Cooley and they began looking over the crash. Spear said he observed a vehicle wrapped around a tree with at least one occupant.

"The occupant I observed was the driver of the vehicle," said Spear. "I also observed another part of the vehicle a considerable distance down the road."

Cooley told Spear he heard what sounded "like a dog howling down the road," and Spear said he could hear noise coming from the area of the vehicle too, and began walking down to it.

"I immediately observed a female standing by the vehicle. She was in pain and wanted to be assisted in moving. She did not appear to be in immediate danger of further injury and was able to talk with me, so I had her stay where she was until the ambulance arrived," said Spear.

The female gave her name as Emily, and when asked who may have been with her, she told Spear there were either three or four people in the car with her.

At that point, Deputy Arthur Smith had arrived on scene as well, and together they searched the front part of the vehicle and located a third victim in the passenger side front of the vehicle.

"Both the operator and female passenger who were seated in the front were deceased," said Spear in his report.

The operator was identified as Byras, and the front right passenger was identified as Brewer. The surviving passenger was Vitale, and she was identified as the lone survivor.

During the course of the investigation, Spear said that it was determined that Byras had no accident history, was in good physical health and that alcohol was not a factor in the crash. It was also believed that drugs were not a factor in the crash, he said.

It was also determined by police that Byras failed to negotiate a right hand corner on Wottons Mill Road and the vehicle went off the left side of the roadway, striking several trees and splitting in half.

Spear wrote in the report: "It is the opinion and conclusion of this officer that speed was a major factor in the crash. If Byras had not been operating at a high/reckless rate of speed, this crash would not have occurred. Byras did not stop when signaled by Cooley, and a chase/pursuit ensued."

Spear also concluded that Cooley had already stopped Byras approximately one hour prior. He issued Byras a summons/citation for speeding. Cooley stated during this radio traffic he was familiar with the vehicle and operator from the previous stop.

Kelley said one thing the report does not show is that the Byrus vehicle drove past Cooley at the intersection of routes 17 and 90, and Cooley clocked it at 52 mph in a 35 mph zone. Cooley pulled out to follow the car and encountered it pulled off on the side of the road at the S-curve by Mirror Lake. Without his blue lights or siren on, Cooley pulled behind the vehicle and before he could get out, the car began to inch forward.

"Cooley thought maybe they were moving to the straighter part of the road, where it was safer because they were on a bad stretch, so he followed behind, but then the car kept going and took off," said Kelley. "And as the incident progresses, Cooley is following with lights on, and about a half-mile in realizes they aren't stopping so he activates his siren, now he's gone a total of a mile and a half, and he's calling to dispatch for backup."

During that time, Kelley said, "All that time, you're talking on the radio, hoping for backup, hoping for the guy to stop, and you're chewing up real estate. Next thing he knew, he was at Wottons Mill Road and the car turned. That's when Cooley said, 'That's it, I'm done,' and shut off his lights and sirens and just go down the road and make sure everything is OK."

Kelley also said there was about a five-second buffer between Cooley's cruiser and the one they were trying to stop, that Cooley was not "right on the bumper" of the Byrus vehicle.

"I haven't done the math to figure out the speed, but I think if you do you'll probably find average speeds of 75 to 80 mph before Wottons Mill Road," said Kelley. "Where the speeds turned horrendous were when he [Byrus] turned onto Wottons Mill and gave it some more, or was going too fast for that road."

Related story:

• Litchfield, Rockland teens die in Saturday night crash

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