Caribou police investigate crash, snowsled thefts

CARIBOU – Police in Caribou were working Sunday to gather additional information for their investigation into a rash of incidents that occurred over the weekend that investigators believe may be connected.

Officer Doug Bell of the Caribou Police Department said that the first incident occurred on Saturday evening, when police received a call just before 6:30 p.m. about a possible drunken driver.

The caller told police that a vehicle was off the road on Route 161 and the driver was in the ditch trying to get the vehicle back on the road.

When police arrived, however, the driver had abandoned the vehicle. Bell said that officers continued looking for the driver throughout the evening but were unable to locate him.

Bell could not give out any additional information about the incident due to the ongoing investigation.

The next incident took place at 12:25 a.m. Sunday morning, when police received a report of an accident involving a tractortrailer and a snowmobile on Route 161.

The accident scene was just a quarter mile away from where the first vehicle had gone off the road a little more than six hours earlier.

Bell said that the driver of the tractor-trailer was traveling north when he came upon a snowmobile that had been abandoned in the middle of the roadway.

Information about the driver was not available, but Bell said that the operator was unable to stop in time and ran right over the snowmobile.

Police later learned that the 2002 Yamaha sled had been stolen from Gary’s Yamaha and Small Engine Repair, a nearby business. The snowmobile’s owner, Randy Cyr Jr. of Presque Isle, had reportedly taken the snowmobile to the business for service.

Bell could not disclose information about how the snowmobile was stolen, but said that the keys to the machine were not in the ignition.

“The sled was obliterated,” Bell said Sunday, but there was no damage to the tractor-trailer.

At 7:24 a.m. Sunday, police received another report of a missing snowmobile.

According to Bell, Milford Hawksley of Bucksport had been staying at the Crown Park Inn in Caribou when he went outside on Sunday morning and discovered that his snowmobile was missing.

The keys were not left in the ignition, according to Bell.

The machine is a 2000 Skidoo Mach 2, which police were still searching for as of early Sunday afternoon.

Bell said that police believe the cases may be connected, and asked anyone who has any information about the incidents to call the Caribou Police Department at 493-3301.