BELFAST – A Mexico man was jailed Wednesday night after a high-speed chase that began in Thorndike and ended in a crash at the Irving Mainway in Hampden.
Quentin R. Breton, 37, of Mexico was arrested at the crash scene and taken to the Waldo County Jail, where he is being held on numerous charges.
Waldo County Chief Deputy Robert Keating said the incident began when Deputy Dan Thompson responded to a disturbance call on Gordon Hill Road in Thorndike at 10:18 p.m. Wednesday.
Keating said that when Thompson arrived at the residence he saw a woman standing beside a green Ford Windstar van. Thompson believed the woman had been drinking and advised her not to attempt to drive. He also told other people at the home the same thing, as they appeared to have been drinking as well.
Keating said Thompson then left the residence and parked a short distance down the road in case someone decided to drive away in the green van. It wasn’t long before the van appeared and drove off toward Unity. When it reached the stop sign at Depot Street, the van failed to stop, and it was then that Thompson turned on his blue lights and pulled the vehicle over.
Thompson walked up to the van and saw a man in the driver’s seat with a woman sitting beside him. The driver identified himself as Breton and told Thompson he did not have a driver’s license. Thompson reported that he could smell the odor of alcohol emanating from the driver and saw that his eyes were red and speech was slurred.
Thompson said that when he attempted to communicate with the driver, Breton ignored him and turned his attention to the woman beside him. As Breton continued talking to the woman he suddenly put the shifter into drive, opened the passenger door, pushed the woman into the ditch and sped off.
Thompson pursued the vehicle down Route 9 at speeds reaching 80 to 90 mph. The fleeing van traveled into Troy and at the intersection of Route 9 and Rogers Road encountered Deputy Dale Brown, who had set up a roadblock with his cruiser and placed a spike mat across the highway.
When the van hit the spike mat its two front tires were flattened, but the driver continued to flee on the rims, at speeds reaching 70 to 75 mph. The van continued through Newburgh and when it reached the intersection of Routes 9 and 69, a Hampden police cruiser, two Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department cruisers and two state troopers were waiting with another spike mat across the road. The spike mat got entangled in the front rims when the van passed and did not flatten its rear tires. The van continued into Hampden, weaving on both sides of the road at 60 mph, all the while dodging oncoming traffic. It encountered another roadblock at the traffic light at the intersection of Routes 9 and 1A, skidded across the highway and crashed into a granite curb and fence in front of the Irving store. Breton was arrested without further incident.
Breton was charged with driving to endanger, eluding an officer, second offense operating while under the influence of intoxicants, operating after revocation after having been declared a habitual offender, failure to stop for a red light, operating to the left of center, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, three counts of passing a roadblock, attaching false registration plates, criminal speeding, violation of conditions of release, criminal mischief and failure to give correct name or address. Bail was set at $5,000 cash or $50,000 single surety.
wgriffin@bangordailynews.net
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