WINTERPORT – A local man is being investigated for assaulting his girlfriend, stealing her minivan and later crashing it into trees. He also is being investigated for drunken driving.

Kenneth Murchison, 33, of Winterport was taken by ambulance to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor with a head injury after he crashed the van into woods off the Meadow Road.

The Waldo County Sheriff’s Office first learned of Murchison when his girlfriend called at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday to report that he had assaulted her at her Lebanon Road residence and fled in her van. While Sgt. James Porter was on his way to Winterport to investigate, he received a report of a van off the road in a ditch. The driver of the van, which was unregistered and uninsured, was Murchison.

When Porter spoke to him before he was placed in the ambulance, Porter reported that Murchison admitted having a few drinks. Porter asked the Bangor Police Department to perform an alcohol test on Murchison when he reached the hospital, according to Lt. Bryant White.

According to Porter’s report, witnesses saw the van pass through the intersection of the Lebanon and Monroe roads at a high rate of speed shortly before the crash. Deputy Ben Seekins reconstructed the accident. The incident remains under investigation and charges are pending.