A woman has sued Lewiston’s former mayor for alleged negligence when he struck her in a crosswalk more than two years ago.
Julianne Dawson — formerly of Lewiston, now of Salem, Massachusetts — filed a complaint against Mark Cayer in Androscoggin County Superior Court in late May, according to the Lewiston Sun Journal.
In the complaint, Dawson accused Cayer of being distracted on Oct. 24, 2019, when he struck her in a crosswalk, causing “severe, disabling and permanent injuries,” the Sun Journal reported.
Dawson was about halfway across the crosswalk at Pine and Bartlett streets when Cayer’s minivan struck her. A video obtained by the Bangor Daily News showed the impact throwing Dawson up onto the hood and then into the intersection, where Cayer stopped and exited the van to check on Dawson before returning to the vehicle and dialing his phone.
Cayer has said he was distracted by a bicycle or scooter in the lane next to him just moments before the crash. The video of the crash showed no bicycle or scooter in the frame.
A police report at the time said Cayer wasn’t speeding and that Dawson was “inattentive,” which she denied.
Cayer was charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, which he did not contest and for which he paid a $180 fine. Dawson told the BDN in 2019 that Cayer came to her home to apologize the next day.
That crash came just two weeks before Cayer was elected mayor with 54.6 percent of the vote in a three-way race. He opted not to seek reelection last year, citing difficulties caused by the pandemic.
