Car driver boasts of going 145 mph

An Augusta man boasted that he had done 145 mph on Interstate 95, but his boast came early Sunday morning as he was sitting awaiting booking at Penobscot County Jail.

Shortly after 3 a.m., Bangor police Officers Steve Jordan and Shawn Green spotted a car accelerating onto Interstate 395. The officers spent much of the next 3.4 miles catching up with the 1995 Volkswagen Golf that Jordan said was still pulling away from them when the officers were doing 120 mph. The car did pull over near Cold Brook Road on I-95, Jordan reported.

The officers recognized the driver as Brian Soldano, 26, having seen him 40 minutes earlier, reportedly intoxicated, behind the Howard Johnson restaurant. He and another man apparently had been causing problems in the area. Soldano told police he wasn’t going to drive.

After stopping Soldano on the interstate, the police had the man perform field sobriety tests, after which he was arrested. Jordan charged Soldano with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants, criminal speeding and displaying suspended registration.

Inside the jail’s car bay doors, before he boasted of speeding, Soldano made another admission, telling police: “I’m way past OUI. I am drunk.”

A motorist who rolled through a red light but came to a near stop for several yellow flashing lights was arrested early Monday morning in Bangor and charged with drunken driving.

Bangor police Officer Jason Stuart followed the errant motorist from Hammond Street, through several intersections, until finally stopping the vehicle on Center Street. The driver, Jay Irwin, 42, a transient, hadn’t stopped for a red light but nearly stopped for flashing yellow lights along the way, before pulling into a parking lot of a business that was closed, Stuart reported. Irwin’s license had been suspended, and the man admitted to having four beers earlier.

Stuart arrested Irwin after field sobriety tests, and the officer reported that Irwin became agitated on the way to the jail and began hitting his head on the window and the protective plastic barrier between the front and back seats. The officer made a side trip to Eastern Maine Medical Center to have the scrape on Irwin’s forehead treated.

An Orono man was charged with theft after it was reported he had taken prescription medications from his parents’ home during the weekend.

Carlo Michael Pinto, 25, also was charged with violating conditions of release as he was out on bail at the time of his arrest Sunday. Pinto was visiting his parents Saturday evening when some prescription medications apparently went missing. Pinto was seen in the room where the medicines were kept, according to police.

Pinto couldn’t be located Saturday, but authorities had better luck the next night. Orono police Officer Chris Watson went to the man’s apartment Sunday and initially was told by a woman that Pinto wasn’t there. The woman allowed police to search the home, and Watson reported that Pinto was hiding in a storage area.

– Compiled by BDN reporter Doug Kesseli