BANGOR, Maine — In 2019, Maine State Police detective Ben Campbell stopped to assist a driver during a snowstorm on I-95 near Bangor, when a tire flew off a trailer of a logging truck, killing him.
The driver of the logging truck, 55-year-old Scott Willett, made his final appearance at the Penobscot County Superior Court on Friday.
Willett pleaded guilty to the charges of causing the death of a person while committing a traffic infraction, a civil violation, and five counts of trucking rule violations and two counts of operation of a defective vehicle, a Class E crime.
The judged sentenced Willett to pay a total of $15,000 in fines and suspended his driver’s license for six months.
During the months Willett will have no license, he will pay $25 a month. After his license is reinstated, the fee will increase to $100 a month until the total fine is paid off across roughly 12 years.
“We spoke to Ben’s father a few minutes ago and he is understandably upset. This is a tough time for that family," Assistant District Attorney Christopher Almy said. "I think that he understands that what we did was the best our office could do, I think that he is concerned that the defendant was given a lot of time to pay this fine.”
A statement from Detective Campbells mother, Nancy Campbell, was read during the court appearance.
In this statement, she detailed mourning the loss of her son and attributed that loss both to Willett and the inspection station’s negligence. Nancy wrote that she believes Detective Campbell’s death was accident that could have been avoided.