Purse-snatcher eludes capture in Brewer

An unidentified man evaded capture after a woman reported her purse stolen from a grocery cart Thursday afternoon in Brewer.

Brewer police Officer Richard Smith reported that clerks at the Paradis IGA on North Main Street chased a young man in a blue hat and T-shirt after he allegedly took a purse that was in the child seat of a female customer’s cart. The clerks said the man ran across the parking lot and ducked into the bushes.

The clerks found the wallet, but about $65 in cash was reportedly missing from it, Smith said.

Old Town police arrested a Hudson man on an OUI charge Friday.

Officer Seth Burnes said just before 2 a.m. he stopped Caleb Pettengill, 19, on Gilman Falls Avenue between the bridge and Route 16 because of a broken headlight.

Burnes said he became suspicious when he noticed the driver quickly light a cigarette and begin smoking it with unusual vigor. Burnes said drunken drivers will occasionally use this strategy to disguise the smell of liquor.

Burnes said Pettengill had slurred speech and glassy eyes, and his breath smelled of alcohol when Burnes had him breathe on the officer’s hand. Pettengill allegedly denied drinking at first, then admitted to drinking up to three beers. Burnes said Pettengill performed poorly on sobriety tests.

Burnes arrested Pettengill and took him to the Penobscot County Jail.

Hampden police charged a Hermon man with drunken driving and drug possession Thursday night.

Officer Benson Eyles reported he and Officer Ruth Duquette arrested Thomas Sawyer, 55, after a citizen reported seeing a man passed out behind the wheel at the intersection of Routes 9 and 1A.

The officers found Sawyer outside his car, but the car was still in the street. Eyles said he and Duquette determined Sawyer was intoxicated and arrested him for operating under the influence.

Eyles also said they found a foil cigarette-box wrapper full of assorted prescription drugs. The 88 pills included oxycodone, a painkiller; Paxil, an anxiety drug; and Prilosec, a heartburn medication.

Sawyer was summoned on a charge of unlawful possession of schedule W drugs.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Isaac Kimball