Hampden driver runs into boy riding a bike

A Hampden man was charged for leaving the scene of an accident Wednesday evening after he ran into a 10-year-old boy riding a bicycle across the intersection of Grove and State streets in Bangor, according to police. The boy was not injured.

Darrell Sproul, 56, who had been slowing down as he approached the intersection, said he did not see the youth crossing the street on his bicycle, but he did hear a “crunch,” according to a police report.

After backing his Ford pickup truck off the boy’s bicycle, Sproul said he asked the youth if he was OK, and the boy replied, “Yes.”

Witnesses told Bangor Officer Christopher Blanchard, however, that Sproul yelled at the boy after the accident, telling him to get out of the way.

When the boy started to walk away with his bicycle, Sproul then drove off, according to the police report. Witnesses said they tried to keep Sproul from leaving, but he yelled at them in return.

After Blanchard ran Sproul’s license plate number, Hampden police found him at home.

At the end of the police interview, according to the report, Sproul said, “Well, if the kid needs a new bike, I will buy him a new one.” His scheduled court date is Aug. 30. (Toni-Lynn Robbins, BDN)

Two teenagers were summoned for burglary early Wednesday morning after they climbed through a Bangor school’s window in order to “find something delicious.”

Michael Jameson, 19, and his male juvenile companion broke into the William S. Cohen School on Garland Street in search of food from the teachers’ lounge, according to a police report. When the two entered the building at around 3 a.m., they activated the alarm system, which immediately notified police.

When police arrived, the officer noticed Jameson walking away from the school, but he was not wearing shoes. He told police he left his shoes on the roof, which is where officers later found them, according to the report. (Toni-Lynn Robbins, BDN)

A Hermon woman was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor on Thursday after a personal watercraft accident on Pushaw Lake.

Two women were driving the watercraft around the lake, searching for waterfront property, when the woman in the lead stopped to point out a piece of land. The second woman did not see her companion stop and crashed into the side of her Seadoo.

“It was a brief moment of inattention,” said Game Warden Jim Fahey.

The first woman, age 54, was taken to the hospital with possible midsection injuries, said Fahey. The second woman was not injured.

Bystanders paddled a kayak out to the injured woman and carried her back to shore in Orono near Gould Landing. Orono police and fire departments also went to the scene.

Both women were wearing personal flotation devices and no charges were filed, Fahey said. (Toni-Lynn Robbins, BDN)

A Harley-Davidson motorcycle that was abandoned at a Willimantic residence Thursday led police to some marijuana. When Investigator Guy Dow of the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department arrived at the residence, he suspected that the motorcycle might belong to Bradley Joe Ray, 43, who lived in the neighborhood.

Dow said when he went to Ray’s home, he found himself walking between 3- to 4-inch marijuana plants to get to the front door. No one answered the door, but Dow saw someone inside the home.

Dow said he went up the road to call for backup, because Ray has a history of criminal activity. Meanwhile, Ray allegedly tried to hide some grow lights behind a shed and he allegedly tossed 19 of the 20 marijuana plants that were growing in a pail into a ditch, Dow said.

When Dow returned to the residence, he arrested Ray and charged him with marijuana cultivation. A search warrant was executed at the home where police found about 80 marijuana plants, 60 of which were upstairs in a grow room, according to Dow.

Also seized were drug paraphernalia, grow lights and a small amount of processed marijuana, Dow said. Ray is expected to make his initial court appearance on Aug. 27. (Diana Bowley, BDN)