November 15, 2024
Column

Underage driver denies drinking, flunks sobriety test

Officer Thomas Adams was on routine patrol at about 6 a.m. Wednesday when he noticed a Honda Civic weaving across Route 2 near the Georgia-Pacific mill. He pulled the car over.

The driver, Michael Ulrich, 19, denied he had been drinking. Ulrich had bloodshot eyes, a blank stare, and the smell of alcohol on his breath, Adams said. Ulrich explained that the smell was from a Listerine tongue patch.

Ulrich agreed to a field sobriety test. He made two errors while writing the alphabet from C to W, and swayed while standing still, Adams said.

Ulrich was not able to walk touching heel to toe.

According to Adams, Ulrich lost count while keeping one foot off the ground and counting “one thousand one, one thousand two …” Adams then asked him how drunk he was, on a scale of one to 10, one being sober and 10 being “falling-down drunk.”

Ulrich’s response was “nine to 10.” Then Ulrich said, “Wait a minute, did you say 10 was sober?” Ulrich decided he was actually a “one,” Adams said.

Adams arrested Ulrich and took him to the station, where the Intoxilyzer showed his blood alcohol level to be 0.14 percent. Ulrich’s court date is Monday, March 17.

A University of Maine student received a punch in the nose Thursday night.

Officer Mike Burgess responded to a call that a student in Kennebec Hall had a bloody nose. Burgess met with Zachary Sposato, 18, who said that he and Joshua Patrie, 19, both of Kennebec Hall, had been fooling around and that Patrie had punched him, Burgess said.

After further investigation, Burgess discovered that Patrie and Sposato had staged a fight for a friend as part of a video project, he said.

Patrie was given a warning.

A disconnected 911 phone call prompted an investigation by Bangor police Thursday, ending in a domestic assault arrest.

The call came in at about 12:12 p.m. but quickly disconnected. Calling back, a Bangor police dispatcher spoke to a man who claimed his son had misdialed. In the background, the dispatcher could hear a woman screaming to have her husband removed from the premises.

Bangor police officers arrived at the Essex Street apartment as Anthony Seeley, 25, was leaving. Seeley claimed it was just a verbal argument with his wife, but his wife had a different story.

She told Officer Douglas Moore that while she was sitting in the kitchen, her husband had rushed at her and pushed her, knocking her back and onto the floor.

When she tried to call the police, Seeley pulled the phone cord from the wall.

In addition to assault, Seeley was charged with obstructing the report of a crime.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Isaac Kimball


Have feedback? Want to know more? Send us ideas for follow-up stories.

comments for this post are closed

You may also like