Old Town motorist arrested for OUI Man driving in wrong lane nearly collides with tractor-trailer

loading...
An Old Town man was driving a pickup truck in the wrong lane on Hammond Street in Bangor late Wednesday night and came face-to-face with an 18-wheeler. The larger truck slowed to a crawl, moving forward in sync with the pickup driver, who had put…
Sign in or Subscribe to view this content.

An Old Town man was driving a pickup truck in the wrong lane on Hammond Street in Bangor late Wednesday night and came face-to-face with an 18-wheeler.

The larger truck slowed to a crawl, moving forward in sync with the pickup driver, who had put his vehicle in reverse and was backing up.

This was witnessed by Bangor police officers, who had been stationed nearby on the Odlin Road. The pickup truck’s driver, Shawn A. Coulombe, 30, then tried to back up into the entrance of the Ramada Inn, but missed, smacking its rear end “quite forcefully” into a snow bank along the side of the road, reported one of the police officers, Steve Jordan.

The pickup pulled forward, drove through the island and headed toward Interstate 395, before being stopped by Jordan and Officer Edward A. Mercier in their cruiser.

Coulombe’s speech was slurred, he was unsteady on his feet and during a field sobriety test he nearly fell over, although he had told police he had had nothing to drink that night.

Jordan reported he could smell alcohol coming from Coulombe’s breath, and at the Penobscot County Jail the Intoxilyzer machine failed twice because it detected too much alcohol in the air, ostensibly coming from Coulombe’s body. A jail corrections officer had to bring in a fan to clear the air enough for the machine to work. On the third attempt, the Intoxilyzer test registered Coulombe’s blood-alcohol level at 0.20 percent, or more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

A 14-year-old was injured when the car he was in ran through a red light at the intersection of Hammond and Union streets in Bangor Thursday afternoon and collided with another vehicle.

Nicholas Hernandez suffered an apparent head injury in the accident that occurred about 2:20 p.m. He was a passenger in a station wagon driven by Alice Ardine, 72, of Glenburn. Hernandez was treated at Eastern Maine Medical Center and later released, according to a hospital nursing supervisor.

Three witnesses reported that Ardine hadn’t stopped for the red light. Her car struck a vehicle driven by Martin Mercier, 30, of Bangor. Ardine’s car received an estimated $6,000 in damage while Mercier’s vehicle received an estimated $8,000 in damage, according to Nichols’ report. Ardine was issued a summons for the traffic infraction.

A Milford man took the corner at College and Stillwater avenues in Old Town too fast and skidded into the side of an Orono police vehicle Thursday afternoon.

No injuries were reported, although the Orono Police Department’s sports utility vehicle received about $1,500 in damage to the front end and the other car, a Geo Tracker, received $1,000 in damage to its front end.

Aaron Robshaw, 25, of Milford was heading east on Stillwater Avenue and made a right turn onto College Avenue too quickly, exceeding the posted speed limit of 25 mph, several witnesses told Old Town police Sgt. Travis Roy. Robshaw’s Geo Tracker slid out of control and struck the Orono police vehicle, driven by Officer Richard Bryant, who was stopped at a red light on College Avenue.

Roy said that it also appeared that Robshaw drove through a red light. Robshaw was summoned on a charge of imprudent speed.

— Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli


Have feedback? Want to know more? Send us ideas for follow-up stories.

comments for this post are closed

By continuing to use this site, you give your consent to our use of cookies for analytics, personalization and ads. Learn more.