Orono police seek driver of SUV involved in crash

The Orono Police Department is looking for the driver of a 1996 dark blue Ford Explorer who struck a generator for a sewage pump near the corner of North Main and Penobscot streets Wednesday at 12:30 a.m.

The driver hit and destroyed a chain-link fence surrounding the generator and moved the concrete block supporting the generator about 10 inches, said Sgt. Gary Duquette. According to police, the vehicle left 125-foot skid marks.

Witnesses who reported the accident to police claimed the driver and three passengers exited the vehicle and proceeded to 21 Penobscot St., about 50-75 yards away. The driver and passengers then returned to the scene and drove the Explorer to 21 Penobscot St. Police went to the residence, but no one would come to the door. Orono police subsequently impounded the vehicle, which had damage to the front-end driver’s side.

Traffic was blocked and power was interrupted after a single vehicle accident around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday on Main Road South, Rt. 1A, in Hampden. Melvin Gould, 49, of Old Town drove his car into a telephone pole, according to police. Gould was not injured but his car was totaled, said Sgt. Scott Webber of the Hampden Police Department.

Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. removed the telephone pole blocking the road. Power was interrupted for nearly two hours and Hampden police redirected traffic for about four hours, Webber said.

The accident was due to driver inattention, said police, but it is still under investigation.

Bangor police investigated two burglaries and the theft of a cellphone on Tuesday, after a relatively quiet Memorial Day weekend.

The owner of the cellphone reported that it was taken about 6:30 p.m. Monday when she was at a Juniper Street home. She had gone to the bathroom and left the phone there. When she remembered it and returned to retrieve it, it had been taken. It was a yellow, green and red Nokia with a Unicel account. During the day, she had called the cellphone number and an unfamiliar woman’s voice answered, she told police. The incident remains under investigation.

A burglary reported shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday at Dunnett Inc. at Penobscot Square revealed that a piece of paving had been used to smash a rear window to gain entrance. The only thing taken from the store apparently was a coffee table that police found smashed in the rear parking lot. Tools valued at $200 had been removed from a Dunnett delivery truck in the rear lot, police reported. Damage to the building and table was estimated at $500. The investigation continued late Tuesday.

A metal money box with $50 in cash was reported stolen from Workout Fitness at 849 Stillwater Ave. about 9 a.m. Tuesday. Police discovered that a door might have been left unlocked, allowing thieves access to the office where they opened a file cabinet and desk drawer to find the box. No other damage was reported and the incident was still being investigated Tuesday evening.

– Compiled by Kelly Michaud and John Hubbard of the NEWS staff