Maine Trucker Charged With Aggravated DUI After Interstate 95 Crash In North Hampton

HAMPTON, NH — A trucker from Maine is facing charges, including a felony, accused of drunken driving on Interstate 95 on Friday morning.

Just after 1:30 a.m., New Hampshire State Police were sent to North Hampton for a report of a tractor-trailer truck in the highway’s center median. When they arrived, they found the truck, which was fully loaded, stuck in the mud with a “substantial amount of debris” onto the highway’s travel lanes, Tyler Dumont, the public information officer for state police, said.

Nathaniel Ray, 46, of Lisbon Falls, ME, was questioned and later arrested on felony reckless conduct, aggravated driving under the influence, and criminal mischief charges. He was also cited for multiple commercial motor vehicle violations, Dumont said. State troopers accused him of “displaying signs of impairment” during the investigation.

The investigation of the crash is still open. Dumont said state police had not determined why Ray lost control of the truck.

“The tractor-trailer departed the left side of the road and traveled into the center median,” he said. “The tractor-trailer continued south in the center median for approximately 500 feet before it struck delineator posts and came to a stop after becoming stuck in deep mud.”

Two lanes on the southbound side of the highway were closed for about two and a half hours. Hampton police, the NH DOT, and National Wrecker Service assisted state police at the scene.

Ray is due in Hampton District Court on April 18.

Anyone with additional information was asked to contact Trooper Benjamin via email at Jacob.A.Benjamin@dos.nh.gov or Trooper Vetter at Patrick.R.Vetter@dos.nh.gov.

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