Posted inMidcoast, News
High-speed bike chase leads to charges
by Walter Griffin September 2, 2008
BELFAST, Maine — A city man faces a number of driving offenses after leading police on a high-speed chase with his motorcycle along Route 1 Saturday night.
Jeffrey A. Sholes, 21, of Spring Brook Drive was arrested by Waldo County sheriff deputies after crashing his 2008 Harley-Davidson into a car in Searsport, bringing to an end the chase that began in Northport. Sholes was not injured in the wreck and the vehicle he hit had minimal damage.
Sholes was arrested and charged with passing a police roadblock, a felony, operating while under the influence of intoxicants, attaching false registration plates, driving to endanger and exceeding the posted speed limit by 30 mph. He was booked at the Waldo County Jail and released on $2,500 cash bail on Tuesday.
Chief Deputy Robert Keating said Deputy Glenn Graef was on routine patrol headed south on Route 1 in Northport at 9 p.m. Saturday when he encountered a northbound motorcycle that was registered on radar as traveling 90 mph in a 50-mph zone. Graef reversed direction and turned on his flashing lights, and the motorcycle pulled to the side of the road. When Graef pulled up behind the bike, it suddenly sped away and accelerated to 110 mph.
Waldo County Sgt. Dale Brown was in the general area and positioned his cruiser on the Route 1 overpass near the Belfast McDonald's with his lights flashing. The Harley-Davidson went right past Brown, and the deputy managed to record its license plate. Brown he learned the plate was registered to a 1997 Suzuki motorcycle.
Keating said both deputies continued their pursuit of the motorcycle and saw it pass cars on the right and left on several occasions. The deputies slowed to 55 mph when they approached Searsport village, but the bike sped through the village at 100 mph.
By the time the officers caught up to the motorcycle it had crashed into the rear bumper of a car seconds after passing another vehicle on the right. The driver, later identified as Sholes, was on the ground but uninjured. The driver and passenger of the vehicle he collided with also were not injured, Keating said.
Damage to the motorcycle was estimated at $3,000. The vehicle it hit had a mark on its bumper.
"They offered to call an ambulance but Mr. Sholes insisted he was not injured," Keating said Tuesday. "They then placed him under arrest and took him to jail."
wgriffin@bangordailynews.net
Previous Work slowing at mail plant in Hampden
Next Buying clubs 'win-win'for farmers, consumers