6 arrested on drunken driving charges in 3 hours

Bangor police arrested six people on drunken driving charges during a three-hour period Friday night into Saturday morning. One police officer stopped two of the allegedly intoxicated motorists as one of the drivers followed another home about 1:20 a.m. Saturday.

Officer Shawn Green reported seeing a car on Larkin Street being driven erratically toward Main Street with a second car pulling in quickly behind the first before Green could reach it.

Green eventually passed the second car and stopped the first car at the bottom of State Street hill.

The driver, Mary Landry, 40, of Bangor told Green that the man behind her was following her to Center Street. But then the second car was nowhere to be found. The driver of the second car, however, approached Green a short time later.

Green recognized Wayne Gagne, 37, of Bangor as the man who had been driving the second car. Gagne denied it, saying he drove a pickup truck. Green found the car later, parked in the alley by the Bangor Savings Bank downtown.

Both Landry and Gagne were charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants.

Others charged during that time were Jennifer Milliken, 25, of Bangor; Gene McLaughlin, 42, of Bangor, who also was charged with operating a motor vehicle after license suspension; Vance Gray, 24, of Bangor; and David Clifford, 24, of Dixmont, who also was issued a civil summons for possession of a usable amount of marijuana.

A fight between a couple Saturday led to the arrest of a Bangor man.

Bangor police Officers Jason McAmbley and Brandon Vafiades were dispatched to an Ohio Street residence at 9:51 p.m. Saturday.

As the officers stood outside the apartment, they heard a woman crying and a man talking. The woman answered the door and let the officers in.

McAmbley saw a man, Jeremiah Spencer, 22, sitting in a chair with an 8-inch carving knife on the table next to him.

McAmbley spoke with Spencer, who said he had been arguing with his girlfriend, according to reports. She had called her father and then the police. Spencer claimed he had the knife to protect himself from her father.

Vafiades spoke with the woman, who said Spencer had verbally abused her, grabbed her by the throat and pushed her into a closet. She said he then hit her in the head five times with his fist and stepped on her as he walked out of the closet. He also had thrown a bottle full of spit and chewing tobacco against the wall.

According to McAmbley, as the officers spoke with the couple, the woman’s father arrived and lunged at Spencer. Vafiades blocked him and escorted him out of the apartment. McAmbley arrested Spencer on a charge of domestic assault and took him to Penobscot County Jail.

An Old Town woman with a history of shoplifting was arrested on a charge of theft Saturday evening after she allegedly attempted to steal hundreds of dollars’ worth of merchandise from a store at the Bangor Mall.

Bangor police Officer Jason McAmbley was met at J.C. Penney by one of the store’s loss prevention officers, who had Erica Dow, 25, in custody.

Dow allegedly had taken clothing from the store and put it into a used J.C. Penney bag. According to police, store associates watched her as she took the clothes, and when Dow left the store without paying, a store officer stopped and detained her. The merchandise she allegedly tried to steal was worth about $744.

McAmbley phoned dispatch to see whether Dow had any previous history of theft. She reportedly had tried to steal about $500 worth of merchandise from the Bangor Wal-Mart and $20 in cigarettes from the Smoke Shop in Old Town. Dow was arrested, charged with theft and taken to Penobscot County Jail.

Compiled by BDN reporters Emily Burnham and Doug Kesseli