A 2-year-old boy was found wandering the streets of Bangor early Thursday morning near Frank’s Bake Shop, at 199 State St.

A woman at the bakery found the boy at 6:40 a.m., and the police were notified immediately, said Sgt. Bob Bishop of the Bangor Police Department.

Officer Bob Hutchins went to the bakery and, after a brief search for the boy’s parents, the officer returned to the station with the toddler.

The boy, who was wearing a T-shirt, nylon shorts and a pair of sandals, looked like he had been “out for a while wandering around,” Bishop said.

Members of the Police Department were assigned to watch the boy until the Department of Health and Human Services arrived at the station around 9:30 a.m.

“He left here with toys,” said Bishop.

Bishop said he heard around 12:15 p.m. that the boy’s mother, a Bangor resident, was en route to DHHS to meet up with her son. According to confidentiality laws, DHHS officials in Bangor and Augusta would not comment on the specifics of the case.

In similar cases, DHHS has to consider the numerous reasons that result in a child wandering off, and whether it was an act of parental neglect or mitigating circumstances, said Jim Beougher, director of the office of child and family services.

The normal protocol for DHHS is to interview the parents and other close family members and friends to decide whether the child stays with the custodial parents or with other family members, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles or a noncustodial parent. If suitable family members are not available, the state would place a child in foster care, Beougher said.

The Penobscot County district attorney will review the Bangor case, and, if warranted, the mother could face neglect, or even child endangerment charges, Bishop said.

“It is unfortunate that the situation developed,” he said. (Toni-Lynn Robbins, BDN)

A circuit problem left 299 downtown Bangor electrical customers without power for nearly five hours Thursday.

An underground Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. cable blew at the Park Street substation around 8:50 a.m., and left most places in downtown without power, said Susan Faloon, spokeswoman for Bangor Hydro.

As soon as the Bangor Police Department learned of the outage, one officer went to Market Square to direct traffic, since the lights were out, said Sgt. Bob Bishop of the Bangor police. The officer was at the square for about 30 minutes before power was restored, he said.

Some Main Street customers had power by 11 a.m., and it was restored to everyone by 1:45 p.m., Faloon said. (Toni-Lynn Robbins, BDN)

A woman riding a motorcycle on the Finson Road topped a small hill around 5:10 p.m. Thursday and encountered a teenager crossing the road on a bike. The subsequent collision sent both to the hospital, said Bangor Officer Tim Shaw.

In an attempt to avoid the 13-year-old Bangor boy, Corinne Dunlop, 49, also of Bangor, laid down her 1983 Honda motorcycle, which skidded down the road and hit the teen. Dunlop was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center with a possible broken ankle, and the boy also was taken for minor injuries to his ankles, Shaw said. (Nok-Noi Ricker, BDN)