Kenneth Morang, 62, was indicted on a manslaughter charge stemming from an accident on Route 25 in Gorham on July 21 when he fell asleep at the wheel of his pick-up truck. His truck struck the back of an SUV killing Raelynn Bell, 9, of Cumberland.

Bell was in the third row of her father’s Honda Civic SUV when Morang hit the car which had stopped to make a left hand turn. Bell was taken to to Maine Medical Center by LifeFlight but died two days later. Other family members suffered serious injuries but survived.

Morang, a 13 year Cumberland County Corrections Officer, told police he fell asleep at the wheel. He had worked a total of 88 hours at the jail that week, including consecutive double shifts the two days before the crash. All shifts were voluntary. As of July 13, Morang had worked 1671 overtime hours in 2019.

Sheriff Kevin Joyce announced that the Sheriff’s Office is in negotiations with the corrections union to “develop a policy that doesn’t unduly limit an employee’s desire to work overtime while fulfilling the needs of the organization’s vacant shifts” adding that “there is no documented guidance on the number of hours that an employee should work overtime…no federal or state statute that governs the maximum hours of overtime an employee should work for their safety or anyone else’s safety.”

Morang resigned this month due to injuries sustained in the crash that kept him from going back to work. The case will be prosecuted by the York County D.A.’s office as Morang worked for Cumberland County. An attorney for the Bell family is researching whether the county bears any responsibility for the death.