SOUTH PARIS — A Mexico man charged with manslaughter and aggravated criminal operating under the influence in a fatal crash with a bicyclist in Rumford last year denied those charges Friday.
Alger Aleck of Mexico appears via videoconference Friday in Oxford County Superior Court in South Paris where he pleaded not guilty to charges in the death of a bicyclist in Rumford last year. Christopher Williams/Sun Journal
Alger Aleck, 38, appeared by videoconference in Oxford County Superior Court to enter not guilty pleas at his arraignment.
A conference also was scheduled Friday among the judge, prosecutor and defense attorney to gauge the likelihood of the case ending in a plea agreement or going to trial.
A judge had set Aleck’s bail at $10,000 cash with a condition that he seek treatment at a drug abuse recovery facility and abide by a curfew.
Aleck has been enrolled in a drug recovery program, but the Augusta building in which that program was housed and in which he was living burned Wednesday, according to his attorney, James Martemucci.
Since then, the program has provided temporary accommodations for him at a hotel in the Augusta area, Martemucci said.
“He’s still under the auspices” of that recovery program and will continue to “adhere to all of those conditions and terms and requirements,” he said.
Justice Thomas McKeon said Friday that he wished Aleck success in the program.
According to court documents, Aleck was driving a car on Route 2 shortly before 11 a.m. on May 21 when it collided with a bicycle ridden by Dorothy McKellick, 68, of Rumford. She died from her injuries.
Police said in a report that McKellick appeared to have been riding properly in the bike/breakdown lane “away from traffic” when she was struck from behind by the car driven by Aleck.
Although police determined there was no alcohol in Aleck’s blood, he failed two elements of a field sobriety test.
An officer wrote that, after conducting a drug recognition examination, he concluded Aleck was under the influence of sedatives, opioid painkillers and marijuana.
A manslaughter conviction is punishable by up to 30 years in prison; conviction of the OUI charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
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