A man involved in the two-car collision last May that killed Tam Ngoc Tran GS and another passenger in the car was indicted Thursday on manslaughter and other charges, according to the Hancock County Superior Court clerk's office.
Jon Dow, 24, of Hampden, Maine, crossed the center line of a Maine state highway in a Ford pick-up truck May 15, striking a vehicle driven by Heather Lee GS.
Both drivers sustained only minor injuries, but the collision — which took place in the early morning — killed both of Lee's passengers.
According to the clerk's office, Dow was indicted on two counts of manslaughter. In Maine, manslaughter carries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000, according to Maine statutes.
The grand jury also indicted Dow on two counts of aggravated criminal operating under the influence of intoxicants causing death, each of which carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of up to $20,000. He was also charged with aggravated assault — which falls in the same category of offenses as the aggravated criminal operating charge— and reckless conduct, which is punishable by up to five years incarceration and a $5,000 fine.
Tran, a second-year doctoral student in American civilization from Garden Grove, Calif., graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles in 2006 with a degree in American literature and culture.
An outspoken activist for immigrants' rights, Tran helped found the Brown Immigrants' Rights Coalition in 2008 to address challenges faced by undocumented students and other immigrants' rights issues. In May 2007, Tran also testified before a House subcommittee on immigration about the benefits for undocumented immigrants, such as herself, of the proposed Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act.
In an e-mail to the Brown community the day after the accident, President Ruth Simmons called Tran a political activist, a filmmaker and a "remarkable student."
"During her time on campus, she distinguished herself for her passion to tell the story of immigrant young people," Simmons wrote. "She made a great difference to all those who knew her."
