Crews put out car fire at Brewer parking lot

A sheet of ice coated the entrance side of the McDonald’s parking lot in Brewer Thursday night after the Brewer Fire Department squelched a car fire.

Naomi White, 26, of Bangor was driving her 1998 Dodge Stratus on Wilson Street around 7 p.m. when she tried to use her brakes, and they failed. She then noticed smoke coming from under the hood and pulled into the McDonald’s parking lot at 525 Wilson St., according to police.

White’s passenger, Daniel Neahring, 19, of Bangor, got out of the car to check under the hood and realized that there were flames filling the engine compartment, according to reports.

The other two passengers, ages 3 and 14, were taken out of the car before smoke filled the passenger compartment.

Brewer’s assistant fire chief was keeping the flames under control with fire extinguishers when fire crews arrived, said police. The small blaze was out within 15 minutes. The car was demolished, but no one was hurt.

Sometime late Saturday or early Sunday, two boys forced their way into Brewer Middle School and left with two Apple laptops, six thumb drives, five digital cameras and various cords and chargers.

The two, both 14-year-old Brewer residents, also broke into four cars in the same area and took CDs, DVDs, a DVD player, tools and other items, Brewer police Sgt. Jay Munson said Thursday.

Charges against the two could include burglary, theft and criminal mischief, but are pending, he said.

An Orono police officer, keeping an eye out for a robbery suspect, pulled over a truck Wednesday night on Route 43 in Old Town.

Sgt. Scott Wilcox stopped a truck with two males inside. Wilcox reported smelling alcohol from inside the truck.

The driver, Stephen Drew, 45, of Houlton, didn’t answer when Wilcox asked whether he had been drinking, but subsequently failed field sobriety tests.

Drew refused to take a blood alcohol test. He was charged with operating under the influence of intoxicants and was taken to Penobscot County Jail in Bangor. His passenger was given a ride by police, and the truck was towed.

With a recent rash of burglaries around the East-West Industrial Park in Brewer, police Officer Rodney Gerald thought it was strange that a vehicle with several people in it was parked in the area around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.

When the vehicle was approached, the driver, later identified as Kevin Fowler, 18, of Brewer, declined to look at the officer or talk to him, Gerald reported. After several attempts to communicate with Fowler, the officer called for backup and requested that Fowler get out of his vehicle, which he refused to do.

Three officers then removed Fowler from the vehicle and drug paraphernalia was discovered in the car. Fowler was charged with refusal to submit to arrest or detention and possession of drug paraphernalia.

– COMPILED BY BDN REPORTERS CHELSEY LEDUE, NOK-NOI HAUGER AND AIMEE DOLLOFF Crews put out car fire at Brewer parking lot