PORTLAND — Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson announced Dec. 14 that her office will issue criminal charges against a 16-year-old girl connected to the death of Rita Douglas, 75, of Harpswell.

Douglas was walking her dog along the shoulder of Route 24 the morning of Aug. 5 when she was hit by a Nissan pickup truck driven by the teenager. Both Douglas and her dog were killed instantly.

Investigators from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and the Brunswick Police Department reconstructed the accident, Anderson said in a press release, and found that the sun’s glare had impaired the juvenile’s vision, causing her to drift onto the shoulder of the road.

Police concluded that speed, alcohol, drugs, or driver inattention were not involved in the accident.

“This was a horrible tragedy,” Anderson said, “made even more so by the freakish nature of the circumstances.”


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