Driver charged with OUI

LINCOLN – Police continued to investigate Tuesday an incident that they said began as a vehicle rollover on Route 6 and ended with the driver charged with assaulting a resident, a police officer and a firefighter.

Derek Dawes, 23, of Lincoln was charged early Monday with three counts of assault, two counts of criminal threatening, and single counts of leaving the scene of an accident and operating a motor vehicle under the influence.

Police Chief William Flagg identified Dawes as the driver of a vehicle that slammed into a utility pole and rolled over on Route 6 at about 9:10 p.m. Sunday.

According to residents and passers-by, as many as four occupants of the vehicle, including Dawes, fled, Flagg said.

Shortly after firefighters arrived at the scene, a neighbor reported seeing a man in his backyard.

When the neighbor approached the man later identified as Dawes to help him, he was struck several times in the face and bitten, injuries severe enough to warrant the neighbor’s being taken by ambulance for treatment at Penobscot Valley Hospital, Flagg said.

Shortly thereafter, a firefighter at the accident scene reported seeing a man near the wreckage. Suspecting he was the driver or otherwise involved, the firefighter attempted to nonviolently keep the man at the scene when the firefighter, whom Flagg declined to identify, also was punched, Flagg said.

The assailant in that incident was again later identified as Dawes and again, the assault was preceded by a threat, according to the police chief.

At that point, Officer Patty McLaughlin took Dawes into custody, Flagg said. She handcuffed him and placed him in her police cruiser, but Dawes became combative in the cruiser.

State police Troopers Barry Meserve and Chris Cookson and Sgt. Scott Young of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department helped physically subdue Dawes, Flagg said. The scuffle resulted in a third assault charge being filed against Dawes, the chief said.

A blood sample was taken from Dawes but a blood-alcohol content rating was not yet available on Tuesday.

Dawes’ arrest on Sunday put him in violation of a probation condition, Flagg said.

Dawes was being held on $250 bail at Penobscot County Jail on Tuesday night. It was unclear whether he had been arraigned in Bangor District Court on Monday or Tuesday. Police had a court date of Sept. 16 for Dawes, but Flagg said he expected the probation violation would have Dawes in court sooner than that.

The investigating officer, McLaughlin is working to determine who else was in the vehicle and whether charges should be pressed against them, Flagg said.

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