Dog complicates sobriety test for Hancock driver

A Hancock motorist suspected of being intoxicated had to worry not only about field sobriety tests early Wednesday morning, but also about her small dog, which kept escaping from the car.

Bangor police Officer Brent Beaulieu stopped the small blue car driven by Shannon L. Davis, 25, after she slowed but didn’t stop for a blinking red light at the intersection of Ohio Street and Griffin Road about 2:50 a.m.

Davis’ eyes were bloodshot and her speech slurred as the officer spoke to her and she leaned on the car for balance when she first got out, according to the police report. The small dog in the car escaped out the door, Beaulieu reported, and Davis fumbled as she tried to capture the dog.

She caught the dog, put it back in and closed the door, only to have the dog escape out a passenger side window. Again with some difficulty, she captured the dog and put it back through the window, which she told Beaulieu was broken and couldn’t be rolled up.

The officer could smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from Davis, and she swayed and had difficulty maintaining balance during field sobriety tests, according to the report. Beaulieu learned that Davis’ license was suspended, and she was arrested, charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants and operating a motor vehicle after license suspension.

Her dog escaped again and this time was caught by police and taken to the Bangor Humane Society.

Davis’ blood alcohol content registered 0.15 percent on the Intoxilyzer test, or nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

A motorist came into the Bangor Police Department early Wednesday morning to report that an erratic driver ran a red light downtown, cut him off and then sped away.

The man told Officer Rob Angelo that the erratic driver headed up State Street and turned onto Broadway. Angelo was parked in the lot outside the old Rite Aid pharmacy on State Street at 1:35 a.m. – about 15 minutes after the man had come into the station – when he spotted a car that matched the description of the one driven erratically. The car was speeding, doing 43 mph in a 25 mph zone and weaving in its lane, the officer reported.

He stopped the car and asked the driver, 26-year-old Jennifer Sharpe of Brewer, where she was going. “That way,” she said as she pointed up State Street. She told the officer that she was coming from the Sea Dog and was going home to Brewer. Angelo pointed out that she was headed up State Street and not headed in the direction of her home in Brewer.

Angelo reported that he could smell a strong odor of liquor coming from Sharpe, and that as she stood, she swayed in small circles. She did not complete one field sobriety test and refused to do two others, according to the police report. On scene, Officer James Hassard reported that Sharpe had difficulty with simple instructions and at one point she nearly fell over.

She was arrested and charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants. Her blood alcohol content registered 0.22 percent on the Intoxilyzer test, or nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli