A Corinna man whose car went off the road in Plymouth on Tuesday morning was arrested after he knocked on several doors asking to use the phone.

Christopher Newton, 21, began knocking at residences along the Lower Detroit Road at 4 a.m. after he swerved to avoid hitting a deer, according to Penobscot County Deputy Joshua Tibbetts. After Newton asked one resident to use her telephone to report the accident, she told him to leave and called police, Tibbetts said.

When Tibbetts caught up with Newton, who was not injured in the accident, the Corinna man was arrested for operating without a license.

A Glenburn man drove through several parking lots and into a ditch Tuesday afternoon in Brewer after his van apparently accelerated on its own.

Richard Burrill, 74, told police he was leaving a Wilson Street carwash at 1 p.m. when his 2004 Toyota van suddenly took off, continuing through Doc’s Place and Prompto Oil parking lots, then over an embankment and into a ditch.

Burrill was not injured but his passenger complained of leg pain, according to police. The damage to the van was estimated at $4,000.

Bangor police arrested a Massachusetts man for operating under the influence Tuesday morning after he reportedly could not correctly recite the alphabet.

Brendan Snodgrass, 26, of Blackstone, Mass., was pulled over at 1 a.m. on Hammond Street after he drove the wrong way down Short Street, according to reports. His car smelled of alcohol and Snodgrass said he had been drinking that night.

Snodgrass, who said he knew his ABCs and had attended college for two years, was asked to recite the alphabet from the letter F to Q. He said “F,G,H,Y,” paused and apologized, and could not complete the test, according to reports.

After failing further field sobriety tests, Snodgrass was arrested for operating under the influence. He later registered a 0.17 percent blood alcohol content, and said he had consumed one too many pitchers of beer at a bar that night, according to reports.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Jackie Farwell