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Industry man sentenced in pedestrian fatality

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Tommy Clark, 25, of Industry, listens during his sentencing hearing on Monday as Taylor Gaboury's parents, Tena Trask and Rick Gaboury sit behind him.
Tommy Clark, 25, of Industry, listens to Justice William Stokes during his sentencing hearing on Monday in Franklin County Superior Court as Taylor Gaboury’s parents, Tena Trask and Rick Gaboury, with nearly 40 family and friends, watch behind him.
Tommy Clark stands with his attorney Thomas Carey for his sentence in the pedestrian fatality that took place on Jan. 1 in farmington. At left os Assistant District Attorney James Andrews.
Tommy Clark stands with his attorney Thomas Carey for his sentence hearing on the pedestrian fatality that took place on Jan. 1 in Farmington. At left, standing, is Assistant District Attorney James Andrews.

FARMINGTON – A 26-year-old man was sentenced in Franklin County Superior Court to seven years in prison with all but three years suspended and three years of probation for the pedestrian death of a 21-year-old woman on New Year’s Day.

Tommy Clark of Industry had entered guilty pleas on June 6 to Class B felony aggravated criminal operating under the influence and to a Class C felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury or death. He admitted he was driving while intoxicated when he struck and killed Taylor Gaboury, 21, with his car and, after checking to see if she was deceased, had left the scene.

At the sentence hearing held on Monday afternoon, the state recommended eight years in prison with all but five years suspended for the offenses. The defense argued for four years with all but one year suspended. The Class B maximum punishment is 10 years in prison.

Gaboury of Wilton was struck from behind by the car Clark was driving as she walked east along Wilton Road/Routes 2&4, near the intersection of Route 133/Livermore Falls Road in the early morning hours of Jan. 1. After finding that Gaboury was deceased, Clark fled the scene.

Two women, who turned out to be passengers in Clark’s car, stayed at the scene and called 911 to report finding Gaboury’s body down an embankment off Wilton Road. They at first told police they were walking back from a party and noticed a boot in the road and then found Gaboury’s body but later police learned they were in the car with Clark driving and witnessed “a thud” when Gaboury was hit by the car.

Police found Clark not long after they arrived on scene in a parked car at a nearby motel and he was arrested once police were able to piece together what had happened. His blood alcohol level test was .129 percent, above the 0.08 percent at which point a person is considered driving under the influence.

Family and friends of both Gaboury and Clark gave an oftentimes emotional account of the impact of her death. Nearly 40 people, most dressed in shades of lavender attended the sentencing hearing, Many held tissues and dabbed their eyes as family members talked of their loss.

Gaboury’s mother Tena Trask, cried as she said, “everyday is empty,” since the day her daughter was killed. She said her daughter had sent a message out to her family and friends not to drink and drive on New Year’s Eve and had decided to walk home because she was intoxicated and didn’t want to get behind the wheel to endanger anyone else.

Trask asked the court to impose the maximum sentence. “Taylor’s life does matter and she should get the justice she deserves,” she said. Taylor Gaboury’s father, Rick Gaboury called it “a senseless, avoidable tragedy. It was not just one life but a whole family.”

Rick Gaboury noted that Clark was within sight of Franklin Memorial Hospital, nearly across the road, but instead he took off.

“He left her there in that cold snowy ditch,” Gaboury said, his voice heavy with emotion. Then crying, he said, “I love you, Taylor.” Cody Gaboury, Taylor’s younger brother said, “she was intoxicated and chose to walk. He was intoxicated and chose to drive. She did the responsible thing,” he said tearing up.

Justice William Stokes explains hos he arrived at Tommy Clark's sentence of seven years with all but three years suspended, three years of probation.
Justice William Stokes explains how he arrived at Tommy Clark’s sentence of seven years with all but three years suspended to be followed by three years of probation.

Clark’s mother, Penelope Clark, said her son “was a good man,” who left Gaboury and took off because he was in shock. “He would gladly give up his life for hers,” she said.

Assistant District Attorney James Andrews pointed out that Clark had returned to a motel intoxicated after he left a bar when it closed at 1 a.m. Instead of staying put, Clark and the two women, on his suggestion, drove to Wilton to look at a Christmas light display.

“He was on nothing more than a joy ride to see holiday lights that resulted in a horrible tragedy,” Andrews said. “He chose to leave the scene. Selfish disregard; a callous and uniformed decision that Taylor was beyond hope and it occurred just a few hundred feet of Franklin Memorial Hospital.” He added that Clark “encouraged his companions to lie” to police.

Andrews said Clark and his passengers got out of the car and went to Gaboury. Clark “actually lifted her body and had blood on his jeans.”

Clark told the court he “never could believe this could happen. I would gladly trade places with her. I will never forget and I am sorry.”

Defense attorney Thomas Carey said Clark “has been incredibly remorseful.” While he noted Clark was over the legal limit of blood alcohol for driving  “there was no indication he was driving impaired. He drove to Wilton and back. Andrews disputed that noting there were witnesses who saw the car swerving and that the driver was aggressive, shouting at other motorists. Justice William Stokes would say later in the court proceeding, Clark was never identified as the driver by those witnesses.

Carey said the State Police reconstruction analysis conducted at the collision scene reported “it was impossible to say who was at fault.” The report said Gaboury was wearing dark clothing and was walking with her back to traffic. She may have been walking down the middle of the road. “Taylor was virtually impossible to see,” Carey said, “there’s not a lot of light there and she was dressed from head to toe in black with her back to traffic.”

Carey said Clark has taken responsibility for his actions and did not want to put the family through a trial in his decision to plead guilty. In arguing for a reduced sentence of four years with all but one year suspended from what the state wanted, he noted that Clark is not charged with the Class A manslaughter and that there were mitigating factors such as Gaboury’s dark clothing, intoxication, walking with her back to traffic and possibly in the middle of the road when Clark’s car hit her.

“The state has argued in line with a manslaughter charge,” Carey said. “He left the scene but he didn’t leave her,” indicating he left his two passengers behind to call for help. He also sat in his car at the motel “waiting for police to come. He was in a state of shock and it has been with Tommy since that day.”

Andrews countered that the two passengers were left at the scene to lie for Clark. “If it weren’t for the excellent police work, Clark would have driven off with his girlfriend,” Andrews said.

In ordering his sentence, Justice Stokes said it was “troubling” that Clark left the bar and drove while intoxicated to the motel and then got into the car again and drove to Wilton. He said Gaboury’s dark clothing, walking with her back to traffic “may have been contributing factors” in the collision. But, he said Clark made the decision to drive drunk.

“Mr. Clark caused the death of another human being. It was not an intentional act. We need to keep that in mind,” Stokes said. On the Class B aggravated operating under the influence, Stokes ordered a sentence of seven years with all but three years suspended to run concurrently with four years with all but three years in prison for charge of leaving the scene of an accident. He also ordered three years of probation, a 10-year driver’s license suspension, and a total of $2,620 in fines and restitution to pay once he completes his sentence. Release conditions include no use or possession of alcohol, to attend substance abuse counseling, submit to police random searches and testing.

Stokes noted that Clark had no previous criminal record, earned his GED and was recognized as an outstanding employee, who did well while out on bail and has, at this point, accepted responsibility for his actions that night.

“Mr. Clark is not a monster. What he did was very, very bad,” Stokes said. There is good in Mr. Clark.”

“She was a bright star in a large constellation of family and friends,” Andrews said of Taylor Gaboury.

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25 Comments

  1. Soon it will be the equivalent of a parking ticket to kill someone recklessly. Our thoughts are with the Gadbourys.

  2. Tough arrival to read. I wish the family sincere condolences. Grieving will be forever.

  3. It wasn’t just the drinking and driving. Or even the accident or the death. It’s that he left her there. I keep coming back to that. I always thought leaving the scene was a really big deal! He has his GED? He’s a good employee? That was someone’s daughter laying there in that cold, dark ditch and he drove away knowing that. I don’t know this family but my heart continues to go out to them.

  4. So much misjustice taking place in this town. Someone is going to snap. It’s happening everwhere. I offer my prayers to family and friends of a beautiful young woman. May love outweigh injustice.

  5. Public intoxication and driving while intoxicated are two very dangerous things. So sorry this happened.

  6. So let me get this straight. He killed a young woman while driving intoxicated, got out of the car and held her body, and then GOT BACK IN THE VEHICLE AND DROVE OFF??? That should be 2 instances of OUI with vehicular manslaughter. How does he only get 3 years???

  7. My heartfelt condolences to Taylor’s family and friends. Her life was worth far more than the 3 years he will be inconvenienced. There seems to be no rhyme or reason in our justice system and we wonder why crime is soaring. I truly hope that Tommy Clark uses his incarceration time to the fullest (educationally) so when he is released he can spend the rest of his life working with young adults who are on the same path to making bad choices.

  8. Lisa
    July 25, 2016 • 9:57 pm
    It wasn’t just the drinking and driving. Or even the accident or the death. It’s that he left her there. I keep coming back to that. I always thought leaving the scene was a really big deal! He has his GED? He’s a good employee? That was someone’s daughter laying there in that cold, dark ditch and he drove away knowing that. I don’t know this family but my heart continues to go out to them.

    Thank you for finding the words I seemed incapable of yesterday.

  9. Ricky, Tena and family: I think about you and your loss everyday. This sentencing is not justice for Taylor and am sad that such a precious life is gone because of such a reckless act. I just don’t understand the way our court system works anymore…..In so many cases it seems the victims are the ones that pay the ultimate price….it’s so unfair!!

  10. I get it that everyone is hurt and angry.
    Tragic and senseless loss of life..
    No Excuse in the world can lessen the loss of life and the pain the loved ones feel.

    However (and I know no one wants to hear this),,he is remorseful and that makes a difference.
    It does not bring her back or make him less guilty,,,but compare that to someone who is not remorseful and maybe you can see my point..

    What is “punishment” for?
    It is not to make the pain less for this young ladies loved ones. No amount of prison time would do that.

    He majorly screwed up and committed a serious crime.
    How much time is enough ???

  11. To answer your question, Was it deliberate?, I don’t think it’s just about punishing him, it’s about discouraging other would-be drunk drivers to NOT and if they have an accident to STAY. This guy gets out at age 29. Yes, he’ll have a record but he will have opportunities to get married, have a family, be employed, etc., etc. I think it’s clear that given the circumstances, she still may have been hurt or killed by even a sober driver. But he was drunk and he did leave the scene. And before that, he was riding around potentially endangering others. It’s up to God and the family to forgive. It’s up to the justice system to be consistent and have a zero tolerance for this type of criminal behavior.

  12. @ Was it delibrate??

    It does not matter. What does matter is every person who followed this story now realizes the leniency of our justice system to drinking and driving. That is what matters, to make the penalty so bad that no one will risk driving intoxicated again. This sentence did not do that.

  13. Three years doesn’t seem very long to someone who has never been incarcerated, but that’s roughly 1,095 regimented, possibly brutal, days and night in a place where damaged people (read angry, aggressive possibly violent criminals) are locked up for the protection of the rest of us. How much better it would have been if both of those young people had celebrated New Years Eve at home. Our society is complacent about partying on one hand, especially as a part of the youth culture, but then becomes sanctimonious when lives are lost and ruined.

  14. Oh, ok. None of you armchair quarterback types has ever driven a car after ‘the standard two beers’. Yup. Got it.

  15. Was it deliberate?
    He drank, got behind the wheel and drove drunk! Yes it was deliberate. Then he left the scene, that was deliberate also. He may spend 1,095 days in jail, she is in a grave for God’s sake. She lost 60 years of life and he loses 3 and you feel bad for him! Liberal thinking has even eroded our justice system.

  16. NEWSFLASH: It was an open courtroom, that is, open to the public. Any one of you could have gone and sat in while the DA and Judge explained the reasons for the sentence, in a long, verrrry long, detailed explanation. So, next time, go and sit in and absorb the explanation, perhaps then you wont jump onto the comments section of this paper and explain how dumbfounded you are at this “injustice”, perhaps then you would understand (probably still disagree) but at least understand the sentence.

  17. I’m sorry Daryl Stimpson, but there is no explanation that can justify the outcome of this case. He chose to make all the wrong choices – he gets 3 years for it. Taylor made good choices and her responsible decisions – she gets ‘life’. Now can you see how this just doesn’t add up?? Can you see the wrong message is being sent out?

  18. As I sit here and read this I hold my children tight. As a mother reading this and seeing what everyone is gowing threw breaks my heart, tears fill my eyes.. No mother or father should ever have to bury their child, ever! My heart goes out to everyone that had ever known this sweet, sweet girl. I didn’t know her as well as many people but I knew her mother, father, boyfriend and best friend.I know that she was a very big and important part of their lifes and her smile could brighten a whole room. Taylor was one of those girls who you saw and just made you smile because she just was a happy soul full of life and never wanted nothing but to have a good time with her friends and family. I know everyone has heard this over and over again.. but my heart breaks for everyone and you all are in my thoughts. Regardless what type of person Tommy was he wasn’t a very good person on this day. He left an innocent girl on an embankment on a cold winter morning.. and to me that doesn’t sound like a human being and a “good man” no matter what state you were in and shock if this was truly an accident you would have stayed there with her ,who is to stay he couldn’t have saved her? If he was “taking responsibility for his actions” he would have stayed there with her held her instead of leaving her like she was nothing!!!! I feel as if he took her life he needs to spend his life behind bars. Why is his life important? Taylor’s sure wasn’t to him and for the two girls that were with Tommy, they should be getting charged with something as well!!! Yes they did call 911 but they lied for him, if the officers wouldnt have gone to the motel he would have walked away from this and never looked back.. why are they not being charged with anything???!!!! This isn’t anywhere near justice for Taylors family or for Taylor herself!! Rest easy sweet girl you may be gone but you will never be forgotten. Fly high sweet angel♡

  19. I think the one thing that is missing from all the news on this and from comments is this: alcohol clouds your judgement. Yes, this young man made the decision to drink. Once intoxicated to the level that his blood test indicated, do you feel that he was in any state to make a rational choice? Ending another persons life with that much alcohol in your system would of course be shocking to anyone. How would you have reacted? We can all sit here sober and pass judgement and claim we would never do that but we would be lying to ourselves. You just don’t know what actions one will take when severely under the influence.

    We need to remember when reacting to his sentencing – he is not being charged with murder or manslaughter. This punishment must fit the crime – the crime in this case being operating under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident. Both charges that would have still been brought even if Taylor had lived. For those charges, under these circumstances, and considering Mr. Clarks cooperation from the point of being picked up – his true remorse for what happened and his willingness to plead guilty and spare a trial – I feel that this sentence is entirely fair.

    My heart goes to out to BOTH families. The Gaboury’s for their tragic loss and continued suffering. To the Clark family: knowing someone is a good man and then watching him be brought down to this level is hard. I can only hope that this will help Tommy change his life for the better.

  20. Our hearts should break over this tragedy for both families and our community. We should ask ourselves several questions before making judgments. How many of us feel that a walk along Route 4 is safe during the day? Would walking Route 4 at night with traffic be a safe choice with no possible dangers? How many of us could have been driving sober that night and taken this precious life? How many of us might have had a classic response to the adrenaline surging through our bodies upon discovery that our actions had taken a life? Fight or flight?

    I believe that Mr. Clarks greatest punishment will not be prison. His punishment will be to live with the shame, guilt and burden of this life that has been lost. He will live with this until the day he dies. Every waking moment he will carry this load to some extent.

    As for Taylor’s family, a precious part of them has been buried with their daughter. Both families are trying to move on.

    When will we begin to teach our children that drinking and drugs ALWAYS has consequences some of which can never be undone? Alcohol that night clouded everyone’s judgment.

  21. So sad, I’m saddened for this community. It’s awful that he could do that and only get 3 years, where’s the justice? And foremore, what about the two girls with him, shouldn’t they be in trouble for lying, anybody that can make up a story about finding a boot in the road, and lie about hitting her should rot in jail too.

  22. We all The possible consequences that come with drinking and driving it is preached everywhere the worst part about the whole situation is that the two women that he left at the scene he asked them to lie for him so not only did he get out of his car and realize what he had done he tried to cover it up and have those ladies life for him yes he may not be a monster but the choices that he made that night will haunt me and a lot of people for the rest of our life’s it saddens me to think that he’s only spending three years in prison for what he done

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