Couple charged with domestic assault after fight

A Bangor man and his girlfriend were both arrested Sunday night following a fight that one of them said involved “yelling, grabbing, choking and swearing.”

Bangor police charged Sean M. Adams, 25, and Carol B. Sulzer, 18, with domestic assault after being called to the couple’s mobile home at 501 Union St. about 9:30 p.m. From outside the trailer park home, Officer George Spencer reported he could see Adams walk into the living room with Sulzer behind him, yelling and hitting him on the back.

The argument turned physical after Sulzer received an e-mail from a man asking whether she was still meeting him on Saturday, something she told Adams she was planning on doing when he confronted her about it, according to a police report.

Angry, Adams went to their bedroom, where he said Sulzer followed him and they continued to argue. She refused to leave and when he tried to walk out, she barred the door and he allegedly pushed her out of the way. Then things escalated and the fight involved “yelling, grabbing, choking and swearing,” he told Spencer.

Sulzer told Officer Brian Nichols that Adams “went ballistic,” and that he threw her onto the couch, grabbed her glasses and bent the frame. She stated that he also bent her left arm backward and bent her right leg back, and punched her several times in the face and choked her.

She admitted to breaking the leg of the coffee table in the living room, which the police officers described as being a mess with many things thrown about on the floor.

Timothy Campbell, 21, faces assault and theft charges after it was reported he rammed a shopping cart into his girlfriend at Wal-Mart Sunday in an apparent attempt to persuade her to go through with their shoplifting plans.

Store security stopped the girlfriend and her infant son before they could leave, but Campbell fled the store, according to a police report. He returned later and was taken into custody.

Wal-Mart store security apparently was already familiar with the two and a confession by the girlfriend confirmed what store personnel suspected, that the two had been involved in other thefts at the store.

Bangor police Officer Steve Jordan reported that the girlfriend admitted to taking things on four or five occasions, including on Dec. 22 and 23 as well as on Jan 4, 5 and 6. Among the stolen items was a car stereo, a CD player and about 20 Sony Playstation games.

This time, the store security officer had watched as the two went into various departments and hid items under a coat in the shopping cart. Campbell allegedly had a buyer for everything they stole and the security officer reported that she saw Campbell deliberately ram the cart into his girlfriend and told her, “OK, fine, if we leave the merchandise, we won’t get any money.”

They then went to the shoe department, where Campbell placed the items, including razors and several Playstation games, into the diaper bag, according to the police report.

A cab pulled up to the Bangor Police Department Sunday night and a passenger jumped out and ran, followed shortly by the cabdriver and then a police officer, who had been outside the station.

In chasing the passenger, the cabdriver kept demanding his fare. Stopped by Officer Brad Johnston, the fleeing man admitted he didn’t have money for the fare. But it wasn’t just the fare the cabdriver was concerned about.

The driver had picked up the man on First Street and was taking him to his destination on Essex Street when the man vomited twice in the back seat. The cabdriver told the passenger that his fare now included a $25 fee to cover cleaning up the back seat. The passenger, Shawn Burgess, 29, of Plymouth, said he didn’t have the money on him, but would pay him on the first of the month.

The cabdriver turned around on State Street and headed for the police station. Johnston arrested Burgess on the theft charge and subsequently also charged him with violation of bail conditions. Burgess’ blood-alcohol level registered 0.21 percent on the Intoxilyzer test.

As Brewer police were on a routine patrol stop on State Street Friday night, they were interrupted by the sound of something loud close by.

“All we heard was this big explosion; glass was going everywhere,” explained Cpl. Fred Luce, who was assisting Officer David Lord during a motor vehicle search on State Street by the Old Footman’s dairy.

On the road a few feet away was a white car that, fortunately for the police officers, had served as a buffer for what had caused the explosion. A pickup truck had come down State Street, crossed the center line and crashed into the white car, which had two people in it, Sterling Arbo, 49, and Linda Arbo, 53, of East Holden. Neither of them was injured. The pickup sped off.

“It was clear he was trying to get away,” said Luce, who pursued the pickup truck, catching up with it by Silk and North Main streets. The pickup truck wouldn’t stop at first, although it was slowed by the traffic ahead of it. Eventually the truck pulled over by Hillcrest Drive and North Main Street.

The driver, Gary Ketchen, 48, of Milford, was taken into custody and charged with leaving the scene of a property damage accident. Luce suspected that Ketchen was intoxicated and his suspicions were confirmed when an Intoxilyzer test at Penobscot County Jail registered Ketchen’s blood-alcohol content at 0.23 percent, or nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Luce also charged Ketchen with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants, failure to stop for a police officer and failure to report an accident by the quickest means.

A snowmobile was seen being driven erratically on railroad tracks Monday night and was reported to Brewer police by a train conductor.

Officer John Knappe reported finding the sled by the tracks near Wilson Street, where he caught up with the driver.

The snowmobile had stalled and, in talking with the sled’s operator, Garth Debeck, 38, of Hermon, Knappe suspected that Debeck was intoxicated. Debeck staggered when he walked and his speech was slurred and Knappe could smell alcohol coming from him. Debeck failed several field sobriety tests that Knappe administered, and he was arrested.

Knappe charged him with operating a snowmobile under the influence of liquor, operating a snowmobile on railroad tracks and criminal trespass. Debeck’s blood-alcohol content registered 0.19 percent on the Intoxilyzer test.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli