Truck rolls down hill after brake gives way

HOULTON – A Merrill man who called police after his company truck went missing on Wednesday discovered that it had rolled down a steep embankment and received about $20,000 in damage, according to Houlton Police Chief Dan Pelletier.

Dennis Suitor, 61, called the Houlton Police Department at 9:21 a.m. Wednesday to report that his truck had been stolen, Pelletier said Thursday.

Suitor had parked his 2003 International pickup truck owned by Daigle Oil Co. in a driveway at 58 Elm St. and entered the residence. Pelletier said that soon after, Suitor “looked out and his vehicle was gone.”

While Officers Troy Fitzpatrick and Jared Sylvia were on their way to the scene, Suitor called to say he had found his truck – down a steep embankment near the house.

Pelletier said that Suitor had applied his parking brake on exiting the vehicle because it was parked on a grade, but that the brake had “let go” at some point.

The truck rolled over the edge of the embankment and traveled about 75 feet, hitting several bushes and trees and taking out a guide wire for a telephone pole along the way. The truck came to rest along the Meduxnekeag River bank.

Rescue crews and the Department of Environmental Protection were called to the scene because the truck’s gas tank was punctured in the incident, Pelletier said.

The chief said that there was “very little spillage, if any” and that within four hours, the truck had been hoisted up the embankment and towed away.

Pelletier said that no one was hurt and that there are no charges pending.