Trucker Cleared in Logging Crash

CARIBOU, Maine (AP) - A Quebec trucker accused of causing a fatal accident by driving on the wrong side of a private logging road has been acquitted of manslaughter.

The verdict was announced Wednesday at the conclusion of a trial that was heard by a judge instead of a jury.

At issue was whether Alain Bouffard, 34, of St. Justine, Quebec, was reckless. Evidence presented during the trial included brochures warning the public that logging trucks have the right of way and that other travelers use the road at their own risk.

Angelo Chouinard, a graduate student from Quebec City's Laval University who was conducting research with a state fisheries biologist, was killed in the accident on Sept. 2, 1997.

On Tuesday, Aroostook County Superior Court Justice Paul Pierson and court officials went to the scene of the collision to view the sharp curve and steep incline in the road 85 miles west of Ashland.

Pierson said he observed that the travel path of the unpaved road funnels all traffic to one lane regardless of which direction the traffic is headed. "I found the view ... to be most significant," he said.

Bouffard, who waived his right to a jury trial, told the judge he was taught to drive in the middle of the road when his truck was fully loaded.

Testifying in French through an interpreter, Bouffard said the unpaved logging road would have collapsed if he tried to stay to the right while going around the curve. He also said he used his citizens band radio to warn traffic: "Nine miles. Loaded. Going down."

Assistant District Attorney John Pluto said he was disappointed by the verdict. Driving blind into a turn and relying only on a CB radio for a warning is a "horribly unsafe way of driving," he said.