Police track fire setters at trailer park where 14-year-old was badly burned

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A small group of juveniles was seen setting fires near Pray’s Trailer Park on Finson Road in Bangor around 7:30 p.m. Monday.

The youths had run off by the time Bangor police were on the scene but tracking dogs were called in to help pursue them.

The trailer park is the same location where a 14-year-old boy was burned on Sunday. The boy was flown by LifeFlight to a Boston hospital after suffering third-degree burns on his leg from a fire he and two friends were playing with.

The three boys had been playing on a porch in Pray’s Trailer Park around 6 p.m. and set fire to some wood in a metal bucket that contained gasoline, according to Bangor police Officer Doug Moore. Parents were apparently not around when the fire was set, police said.

One of the boys had kicked the bucket over and the gasoline was burning on the porch. The 14-year-old tried to stomp the fire out and caught his right pant leg on fire.

The boy was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center where it was determined that he had third-degree burns on his right leg. He was then flown to the Shriners Hospital in Boston for treatment.

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A Bangor woman was charged with criminal mischief and arson after she allegedly set her boyfriend’s vehicle on fire Sunday night.

Melissa Babbidge, 32, of Bangor set fire to a coat under her boyfriend’s blue Dodge Minivan around 8:30 p.m. after they had exchanged words. A neighbor put the fire out with a fire extinguisher.

She also ran knives along the side of the van, slashed a tire, damaged the grill, bent the antenna and broke the side-view mirrors off, according to Bangor police.

Babbidge had also tried to cut herself with children’s scissors and was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in handcuffs after refusing to be examined, said police.

Babbidge denied doing the damage to the car and said that she did not try to harm herself, according to reports. She was visibly intoxicated but said she only had 21/2 beers. Her boyfriend told police that she had “about a 12-pack.”

The boyfriend did not want to press charges but wanted her arrested because he was “concerned with her behavior.”

Babbidge was charged with arson and was ordered to appear in Superior Court on May 12.

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A juvenile totaled her car around 5:50 p.m. Monday in Hampden when she drove off the road and into some trees.

The 15-year-old and her father, both of Hampden, were taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. The father had a leg injury and the girl complained of head and neck pain.

She was being taught how to drive a standard transmission car by her father when she drove the 1995 Honda Civic off the road at the three-way stop on Sophie Lane and Francis Drive, according to reports.

The girl will be charged with driving without a license.

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A yellow Case Bobcat excavator and the red metal trailer it was parked on, together worth $14,000, were stolen in Bangor sometime Sunday night.

The owner had parked the trailer with the Bobcat on it, in the lot of 88 Walter St. at 7 p.m. Sunday. When he returned at 9 a.m. Monday, the equipment was gone.

There are currently no suspects in this incident.

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A maroon Suzuki motorcycle, with a single rider, was noticed traveling at a high rate of speed on U.S. Route 2 in Hermon at the junction of the Bangor city line just after 9 p.m. Monday, a sheriff’s deputy said. The driver was later charged with drunken driving and several other offenses.

Richard Matthews, 35, of Bangor, who was out on bail for criminal mischief and threatening in connection to an incident that occurred in Bangor, tried to escape from Deputy Michael Adams of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department, by turning into a friend’s driveway along Route 2 in Hermon, according to Adams.

After a field sobriety test, Matthews was charged with driving under the influence, failure to stop for an officer, violation of his conditions of bail and, later in the evening, failure to sign his summons.

At Penobscot County Jail, where he remained Monday night, he was given an Intoxilyzer test and his blood alcohol level was 0.14 percent, Adams said.

Compiled by BDN reporters

Chelsey Ledue and Nok Noi Hauger