Holden, ME : Drunken driver crashes car into pole, causes blackout on Tuesday night, December 30, 2014
A Brewer man was arrested on numerous charges after police say he crashed his car into a utility pole Tuesday night, causing a power outage from Clewleyville Road in Holden to Green Lake Road in Ellsworth.
The episode that led to the arrest of Alex Brehm, 36, began at 8:45 p.m., when Brehm struck a pole at 384 Clewleyville Road, Holden police Sgt. Eugene Fizell said Wednesday.
A resident of that address called 911 and described hearing the crash, followed by a loud explosion. Then the power went out, Fizell said.
The caller also said the car involved in the crash, a Nissan Maxima, had driven out of the field in which it landed and back onto the road and then headed toward the Eastern Avenue intersection. The caller also said the car was making loud screeching noises and leaving black skid marks on the road, the sergeant said.
Fizell said he found the car a mile before he reached the crash scene.
“The car was stopped in the middle of Mann Hill Road near Barrett Lane,” he said. “There was no driver but the engine was running. Local neighbors who had lost power and heard the explosion had gone out to see what the noise was and saw the smashed car as it drove from the scene.”
Witnesses told Fizell that the man driving the car had stopped in the middle of the road, looked at the damaged passenger side and then walked away from the damaged car heading east on Mann Hill Road.
Deputy Jason Matheson, Deputy Ryan Allen and Allen’s police dog, Dozer, all with the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office, and Maine State Police Trooper Bryan Creamer were called to the area and followed a track from the car to a location about half a mile east on Mann Hill Road but then lost it, Fizell said.
A search of the car turned up alcohol and marijuana, Fizell said. The car was towed away.
At the crash scene, police determined that the car was being driven east on Clewleyville Road before the crash and then went straight at a slight curve in the road, striking the pole with the front passenger tire. The car kept going, scraping and denting the entire passenger side and exploding the side windows, Fizell said.
The car traveled straight into a field, then turned back onto the road, continuing for a mile until it stopped moving, Fizell said. The high pitched noise witnesses heard shrieking from the car turned out to be the fan belt and front right tire, which would no longer turn and was being dragged along the roadway, leaving the single black tire mark the entire way.
Police determined the car was registered to Brehm and that the belongings found in the car were his, Fizell said.
Fizell said police searched ditches within a couple of miles of the crash but did not find the suspect. Brewer police looked for Brehm at his home and asked his friends if they knew where he was but he could not be found.
About 1:45 a.m. Wednesday, Holden police Officer Dain Bryant was patrolling the Eastern Avenue and Eaton Ridge Road area when he saw a man walking toward Brewer. He stopped to see if there was a problem, recognized the walker as Brehm and brought him to the Holden Police Department to meet with Fizell.
During the interview, Fizell said, Brehm admitted driving his car and striking the utility pole and driving off. Brehm claimed there was a mechanical failure and that he drove off in frustration, Fizell said.
Brehm was issued a criminal summons for leaving the scene of property damage accident and failing to give notice of accident by the quickest means.
As part of his investigation into the matter, Fizell learned that Brehm was out on bail from a domestic violence criminal mischief arrest by Brewer police on December 27, Fizell said.
The bail conditions required that he not commit a criminal offense and that he not to possess or consume alcoholic beverage or illegal drugs, Fizell said.
Based on the criminal charges from the accident, the liquor and marijuana in Brehm’s car and the smell of alcohol on his breath, Brehm was arrested on a charge of violating the conditions of his release.
Brehm was taken Penobscot County Jail, where a breath alcohol test showed a result higher than the legal limit of .08, Fizell said.
Fizell said Brehm was arraigned Wednesday at the Penobscot Judicial Center and then released on bail.
Source :
Police: Drunken driver crashes car into pole, causes blackout