Drunk Driver Stories

No kidding! Do you mean to tell me that driving after drinking alcohol can cause problems? It seems that there have been several stories in the news lately about accidents caused by that well-known fact.

In Belfast in mid October 2011 a man named James T. Ford who was quite inebriated went to the Lookout Bar and Grill on Front Street just before it closed. The wise staff were indeed “on the lookout” and they refused to serve Mr. Ford. When he left, he got into his car to drive away. The staff members got his license plate number and called the police, who stopped him over on U.S. Route 1 and charged him with driving under the influence of liquor. His blood alcohol content, at 0.1, was above the legal limit.

Perhaps he was too drunk to think about it, but he also had drugs in his possession. This didn’t go well for him when he was brought into the Waldo County Jail. They charged him with unlawful possession of oxycodone, trafficking in prison contraband and possession of a usable amount of marijuana. He was released the next morning, and scheduled to appear on December 29th.

One can only hope he’ll not drive while drunk during that time.

One week earlier over in Falmouth a night of drinking ended in a crash. Two men got into a fight over a cellphone while driving on I-295. The passenger grabbed the steering wheel and forced the vehicle off of the roadway and into a line of large rocks that parallel the interstate. This passenger flew part way out of the car and had to be rescued by Falmouth rescue workers. The driver was charged with drunk driving. The passenger was taken to the Maine Medical Center in Portland with serious, but not life-threatening injuries.

Last of all, a story from November 8, 2011 tells of a 22 year old with an open container of liquor who went out of control, hit a utility pole, and then flipped his vehicle over twice. Searsport Police said that he was taken to the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor in critical condition.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a month with no such events?