An Eddington man who police said was the sole occupant of a stolen car when they caught up with it early Thursday morning claimed that another man had been behind the wheel and had forced him to drive before fleeing.

The blue 2001 Saturn bearing the license plate “CHUKLHD” was spotted in Bangor’s downtown shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday, about a half-hour after it was reported missing from outside a Second Street residence.

Sgt. Robert Bishop reported that Jason Barron, 20, was the only person in the car and that the car didn’t stop when he put on the cruiser’s siren and flashing lights. The car nearly struck two other vehicles and abruptly pulled over after Bishop sounded the cruiser’s air horn.

As the police spoke with Barron, they could smell alcohol on his breath and clothing and noted that his eyes were glassy. Barron wasn’t supposed to be driving, as his license was suspended after a conviction for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants, according to police documents.

Barron rambled as he spoke and Officer Douglas Moore had to strain to understand what he was saying, the officer reported. Moore could make out some comments; among them, Barron claimed that the situation wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the other guy. Barron also inquired whether the police had captured the other man who he said had bailed out of the car.

“The other guy was driving and then he got out and made me get behind the wheel,” Barron told Moore.

Inside the police station, Barron claimed that the Intoxilyzer was operated by police and therefore unreliable. He also refused to sign the summonses.

Barron was charged with unauthorized use of property, burglary of a motor vehicle, OUI and operating a motor vehicle after license suspension.

The owner of the car told police that as she was walking on the sidewalk by her home Wednesday evening, she thought she dropped something but didn’t see anything on the ground. The next morning her husband went to warm up the car for her and discovered the vehicle missing. They discovered her keys missing as well.

A man whose daughter argued with a boy she had been sledding with Wednesday was charged with threatening to shoot the boy’s mother.

The boy’s mother called Bangor police about 7:45 p.m. to report that Robert Scovil, 45, had called her home after she had sent his daughter home after the argument. The woman told Officer Edward A. Mercier that she could hear Scovil yelling at her son on the phone and that she took the phone away from him and began speaking to Scovil.

In comments, which she said left her shaken, Scovil asked her whether she ever had a gun pointed at her, then allegedly told her he was going to come over and shoot her.

Scovil admitted to asking the mother about whether she ever had a gun pointed at her face, but denied making the other statement, according to Mercier’s report. Scovil allowed police to search his home and no gun was found, according to Mercier.

Scovil was charged with criminal threatening and warned to have no contact with the woman or he’d be arrested for tampering with a witness.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli