Owner crashes pickup after police release it

BAR HARBOR – Hours after he got his impounded pickup truck back from local police, a Trenton man lost the use of it permanently Tuesday night when he demolished it in an accident.

Robert Elliott, 19, was driving east on Gilbert Farm Road around 10:30 p.m. when he lost control of his truck near the intersection with Crooked Road, Bar Harbor police Officer David Kerns said Wednesday. The vehicle, a 1997 Dodge full-size pickup truck that police said had been recently improved at an area automotive shop, slid off the road and smashed into a tree.

“He only had it back for five hours,” Kerns said. “He said he swerved for a deer.”

Police had impounded the vehicle on March 29 after they stopped Elliott on Route 3 in neighboring Trenton. Police were looking for the truck, painted blue with two wide, white stripes down the center of the body, because it matched the description of a truck that had been seen at Mount Desert Island High School the night before when some athletic fields were vandalized.

Two fields had thousands of dollars in damage on March 25 and March 28 when someone spun the tires on their vehicle to rip up the turf. Police have said that when they stopped the truck on March 29, Elliott was behind the wheel and the vehicle was covered with dried mud.

Elliott was arrested March 29 on a charge of aggravated criminal mischief for allegedly damaging the fields and a post that had blocked access to one of the fields with a chain.

The truck was kept at the Bar Harbor Fire Station while it was held for evidence. Elliott got it back at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Kerns said he wasn’t sure if Elliott and his passenger, Ryan Stanhope, 19, of Trenton, were wearing seat belts at the time of the accident Tuesday. He said Elliott suffered a cut to his forehead and nose, and Stanhope had bruises on his knees, but neither man was taken to the hospital. They got a ride back to Trenton from Stanhope’s mother instead, Kerns said.

“Speed I would consider a factor,” Kerns said. “They were lucky they didn’t have more serious injuries.”

The truck was valued at $10,000, according to Kerns. He said Elliott could end up facing charges in connection with the accident.