Bangor bridge crash under investigation

State police investigators are still looking into what caused a Brewer motorist to crash into a guardrail on the Veterans Remembrance Bridge late Wednesday night.

Bruce Clark, 42, of Brewer was heading east on the Interstate 395 bridge about 10:30 p.m. when the pickup truck he was driving crossed from the passing lane into the driving lane and then struck the protective guardrail that prevents vehicles from falling into the Penobscot River far below. The truck left a pair of thin tire marks, which curved noticeably toward a dent in the guardrail. Maine State Police Trooper Philip Pushard said the crash occurred about halfway across the bridge.

Clark was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. He was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center where he was treated for head injuries. Pushard said the motorist struck his head on the passenger side of the windshield. Clark’s medical condition was unavailable Thursday night.

Troopers shut down traffic on the bridge for about half an hour, beginning about 11:45 p.m., to allow state Trooper Marc Poulin, who is an accident reconstructionist, and others to take measurements and reconstruct the accident.

Pushard said that investigators are trying to determine what caused the accident and whether speed or alcohol were factors.

Bangor police arrested a man early Thursday after he allegedly held a woman down and warned her not to testify against him.

Officer Shawn Green reported that at about 4 a.m. he and Officer Ron Hutchings went to a First Street apartment after a woman called 911 twice asking for assistance, canceling each call.

Green said he met with a woman who told him James Combs, 43, of Bangor came to her door twice, asking to be let in to get some of his clothes. She refused the first time, she said, because he had been arrested for assaulting her already and was not supposed to be near her. When he asked the second time, saying he needed the clothes for court, she let him in.

The woman said Combs immediately became confrontational, telling her she’d better not be in court. Combs allegedly said that if she was going to “go after him,” then he was “going to go after” her. He then allegedly grabbed her by the throat, forced her onto a bed and pulled hair out of both sides of her head. When the woman said she would call the police, she said, Combs held her wrists.

The woman finally managed to get her hands free and called 911, and Combs fled. The woman told Green that Combs was probably hiding in the laundry room downstairs.

Green found Combs lying on the floor in the laundry room. He arrested him and charged him with domestic assault, tampering with a victim and obstructing the report of a crime.

– Compiled by NEWS reporters Isaac Kimball and Doug Kesseli