Driver sentenced to prison for causing fiery crash that claimed 4 lives

ELLSWORTH, Maine — The driver who caused a fire crash that killed four people fellow Maine Maritime Academy students in December 2022 were ordered to serve three years in prison for manslaughter during his sentencing Friday.

Joshua Goncalves-Radding, of North Babylon, New York, pleaded guilty to charges including manslaughter and aggravated driving under the influence.

He was driving between 105 and 109 mph before the SUV crashed into a tree and burst into flames, investigators said. The dead were Brian Kenealy, 20, of York, Maine; Chase Fossett, 21, of Gardiner, Maine; Luke Simpson, 22, of Rockport, Mass.; and Riley Ignacio-Cameron, 20, of Aquinnah, Massachusetts, officials said.

The accident happened after students went outside after the last day of classes of the semester.

Goncalves-Radding issued an emotional statement taking responsibility and apologizing to the families. Fossett’s parents asked for a lenient punishment and tearfully embraced him during recess. “Nobody wanted this to happen,” Laura Fossett said.

“This was a situation where a good person made a terrible decision that cost the lives of four of his closest friends,” said District Attorney Robert C. Granger. “No sentence that the state could recommend or that the court could impose could possibly compete with him. -imposed sentence tells the suspect every day he wakes up: he is confronted with the realization that he has murdered his four best friends and injured two others.

In addition to Goncalves-Radding, two other students survived. The Land Rover the students were riding in was owned by the father of one of them, Dominick Gecoya, of Middleton, Massachusetts. The other survivor was Noelle Tavares, 20, of North Falmouth, Massachusetts.