SANFORD, Maine – Witnesses say a 68-year-old pushed children to safety before being killed by a driver who careened onto a baseball field in Sanford, Maine, on Friday night. Some 400 miles away, the news is bringing relief to one family, reports the Washington Post.
The Portland Press Herald has the “ironic” story of Douglas Parkhurst, who was at the Babe Ruth baseball game his grandson was participating in and was killed by the car driven by Carol Sharrow, 51.
Parkhurst himself confessed to a deadly hit-and-run in 2013, bringing some answers but little solace to the family of Carolee Ashby, a 4-year-old killed on Oct. 31, 1968, as she walked to a store in Fulton, New York, with her then 15-year-old sister to buy birthday candles for the teenager’s cake.
Though police initially eyed Parkhurst as a suspect, a 2012 tip to police was what ended up spurring Parkhurst’s confession.
That confession reportedly came only after Parkhurst received assurances from prosecutors that the statute of limitations had passed and he would not be prosecuted. Darlene Ashby McCann, the sister who was with Carolee when she was killed, says her family never received an apology from Parkhurst.
Still, “now I am relieved,” she says. “I truly am. The same thing that happened to my sister happened to him. It made a complete circle.”
The Bangor Daily News reports that while police did not state whether they believe alcohol was a factor, Sharrow does have at least one drunken driving conviction and a second previous drunken driving charge.
Police have uncovered no connection between Sharrow and Parkhurst, who was reportedly trying to close a gate on the field to prevent Sharrow from fleeing the scene when he was hit. He died en route to the hospital.
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