Gorham police on Friday identified the man who died when his car crashed into the Presumpscot River on the Gorham-Windham town line.
Police said the driver was Jonathan D. Patry, 38, of Portland but the cause of the crash and the circumstances that led to it are still under investigation, said Gorham Police Chief Dan Jones.
It’s still not clear when or why the vehicle, a gray Chevy Sonic, left the road and went into the river. It was first seen Thursday morning near the bridge at the border between Gorham and Windham, and appears to have entered the water from the Gorham side. The river serves as the town boundary line.
There is a small bend on Mallison Street in Gorham as it approaches the bridge, near the point where the car appears to have left the road from the Gorham side while traveling east.
The vehicle appeared to have missed a concrete bollard by a couple of feet.
The vehicle was first reported by an employee of Liberty Bell moving and storage, which rents a converted mill building overlooking the scene.
Divers from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office were called in to assist in removing the body from the car before a wrecker towed the car out of the river. It is being stored at the Gorham police department. Patry’s remains were taken to the state Medical Examiner’s Office in Augusta for examination. Jones said that tests for drugs and alcohol will be conducted on Patry, as is standard in all fatal crashes.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
