Bangor man arrested after SUV chase

A Bangor man led police on a brief chase Tuesday evening.

When Albert Lavigne, 38, drove by his Griffin Road address in a Nissan Pathfinder at about 6:00 p.m., Officer Christopher Morley was waiting for him.

Morley said Lavigne’s girlfriend had told him Lavigne assaulted her that evening and pulled the phone out of the wall when she tried to call police.

When the officer tried to stop Lavigne, the Nissan sped up and pulled into the Mobil station at Griffin Road and Union Street.

Lavigne tried to shake the cruiser by driving behind the store. When he found the cruiser still waiting for him, he turned the SUV around and drove into the oncoming lane on Union Street.

The Nissan then turned into Captain Nick’s Restaurant parking lot and skidded to a stop. Lavigne jumped out, Morley said.

When the officer got out of his cruiser and approached Lavigne on foot, Lavigne said, “I give up.”

Morley arrested Lavigne and took him to Penobscot County Jail, where he charged him with domestic assault, obstruction of the report of a crime, operating after suspension and violation of bail.

An apartment caught fire Wednesday afternoon in Old Town.

The Old Town Fire Department arrived at 22 B University Park at 1:25 p.m. with one engine, a ladder truck, an ambulance and seven firefighters, according to Assistant Chief Roger Sirois. Smoke was coming from one of the windows.

The Orono Fire Department also provided an engine, an ambulance and five firefighters.

The fire was controlled by 1:39 p.m. after firefighters attacked it from inside the building.

Sirois said the bedroom of the apartment was totally destroyed, with heavy heat and smoke damage to the other rooms.

The fire is still under investigation, Sirois said, and the State Fire Marshal will begin looking into it Thursday.

The two people in the apartment at the time escaped unharmed.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Isaac Kimball