Bangor officer catches motorcyclist doing downtown wheelie

A 22-year-old West Enfield man was arrested and charged with driving to endanger after his motorcycle narrowly missed hitting Bangor police Officer James Dearing’s patrol car Sunday.

Dearing rounded a curve on Central Street while investigating the report of a loud motorcycle engine in the downtown area when he saw George Drost III riding his motorcycle the wrong way “at a high rate of speed and with his front wheel high off the ground,” the officer said in his report.

“Upon seeing me, the motorcycle braked, dropped its front wheel and skidded out of control,” coming within inches of hitting parked motorcycles, said Dearing, who was forced to slam on his brakes and pull to the side of the road.

Drost told the officer that he was “having a contest to see who could do the highest wheelie,” and that his “Harley … blows those Japanese bikes away,” Dearing said.

The officer later determined that Drost has a motor vehicle record with several speeding convictions.

State police are on the lookout for three individuals who went on a spree Sunday, allegedly stealing $430 from a Bradley florist a short while after they took an undetermined amount of money from a greenhouse in Orrington.

Two women and a man entered Pat’s Perennials in Bradley at around 6 p.m. and induced the owner to bring her dogs out so they could see them, according to State Trooper Darren Vittum.

When the owner returned, she saw a man standing in the adjacent greenhouse area. He left, followed quickly by the two women.

Noticing that the cash drawer was open, the owner discovered the money was missing, Vittum said.

The descriptions of the women and man match those of a trio who earlier had stolen a bank bag from the Wiswell Farm in Orrington, according to the trooper.

The vehicle they were in, an older model gray Chevy Blazer, is believed to be the same one used in the previous heist, Vittum said.

One woman is described as having blond hair and wearing bluejeans, while the other was heavier, had dyed black-red hair and was wearing black jeans.

The man is said to have black-brown hair and to be wearing a short-sleeved shirt. He might have a tattoo on his right arm.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Ruth-Ellen Cohen