Man’s vehicle rolls away from police

As a Bangor police officer spoke to an apparently intoxicated motorist at 7-Eleven on State Street and Broadway early Friday morning, the motorist’s Ford Explorer pulled away from the officer, picking up speed as it headed toward a snowbank.

The SUV’s side mirror smacked the 7-Eleven signpole and went up and over the snowbank when it stalled, reported Officer Brent Beaulieu, who managed to reach in and turn off the ignition while the driver was trying to restart it.

Minutes earlier, Bangor police officers had been called to the convenience store by a clerk who reported that the Explorer had pulled up to the pumps but just stayed there and no one got out. The clerk went to investigate and tried to get the driver to roll down his window or open the door, but to no avail.

Beaulieu had a little more luck and reported that when he tapped on the window, the slumped-over motorist jerked his head up and waved to the officer. It took some time, but the officer also convinced the driver to get out of the Explorer through the passenger side as the driver kept banging the driver’s side door into the signpost, trying to get out.

Beaulieu had the driver, James Allen, 43, of Monroe, get out of the SUV and the officer reported that Allen was unsteady on his feet. Allen admitted that his license had been suspended for a prior conviction for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants.

Beaulieu charged Allen with OUI and with operating a motor vehicle after license suspension and reported the man’s blood-alcohol content registered 0.13 percent on the Intoxilyzer test, above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

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A 36-year-old Bangor man had planned to turn himself into the Penobscot County Jail on Friday morning, but a Bangor police officer did it for him after seeing the man violating bail conditions from a previous arrest.

Officer Shawn Green was on patrol on Essex Street shortly before 9 a.m. when he spotted Michael Ireland, 36, leaving an apartment at 49 Essex St. The officer spotted Ireland’s girlfriend in the doorway. As a result of his arrest Monday when he was charged with choking and striking his girlfriend, Ireland was to have no contact with his girlfriend and he was prohibited from being at that residence.

Ireland got into the passenger seat of a vehicle and was driven away, with Green behind it. After confirming the bail conditions with the police dispatch, Green stopped the vehicle on Franklin Street near Hammond Street and arrested Ireland.

While in custody, Ireland asked Green to overlook the violation, seeing as he was already going to turn himself in to the Penobscot County Jail at 9 a.m. to serve eight months.

Ireland was arrested Monday after witnesses reported seeing him on Fourth Street choking his girlfriend, striking her and then spinning her around when she tried to walk away.

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A Massachusetts man found himself on the wrong side of the road and subsequently on the wrong side of the law early Thursday morning while driving on Hammond Street in Bangor.

Daniel J. Oshea, 34, was seen driving the wrong way on the divided section of Hammond Street headed toward Interstate 395 about 12:30 a.m. and Officer Edward A. Mercier reported that at one point while Oshea was turning, he nearly collided with another vehicle.

Mercier stopped Oshea’s Mercury Sable and spoke to its driver who, the officer noted, had glassy bloodshot eyes and his speech was slurred, according to the police report. During field sobriety tests, Mercier had to repeat the instructions for the tests several times because Oshea apparently had difficulty understanding the instructions.

When Oshea did perform the tests, he was unsteady on his feet and lost his balance. Mercier arrested Oshea, who complained that he wasn’t being treated fairly, telling Mercier: “I feel like I have been railroaded.”

Oshea refused to take the Intoxilyzer test and was summoned for failure to sign a uniform summons and complaint and was charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants.

Later, Mercier was contacted by corrections officers at the Penobscot County Jail who wanted to know his Intoxilyzer test results, telling Mercier that Oshea was having difficulty understanding instructions.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli