POLAND, Maine — A Maine State Police trooper on routine patrol Friday night says he interrupted a four-car drag race down Route 26 with speeds that reached 91 mph.
Trooper Nathan Jamo said he was traveling north at 9:30 p.m. when four cars passed him by Cyndi’s Dockside Restaurant heading south at 80 mph. He turned around and caught up with the group.
“Sure enough [when southbound became two lanes] they cranked it up to 91 mph in a 50 zone,” he said. “As soon as they saw my lights, one of the rear vehicles almost crashed. He kind of freaked out, didn’t know what to do. They were just driving like morons. They almost caused two crashes trying to slow down.”
Jamo said the drivers slowed enough that he passed the group, then blocked the roadway.
“I got the first two,” he said. “The last two saw what was happening, and they turned around and went the other way.”
Jon Conway, 21, of 6 Bluebird Drive in Poland and Garrett Foster, 21, of 4 Julie St. in Poland were charged with criminal speeding and driving to endanger.
A friend drove Foster’s vehicle home. As Conway’s vehicle was loaded to be towed, Jamo said he found a large bag of marijuana inside.
“We could smell it coming out of the glove compartment,” Jamo said.
Charges are pending.
Jamo said it was unexpected but nice when another driver that the drag-racing group had passed stopped her car and thanked him.
Because it’s straight, wide and rural, he said that stretch of Route 26 is a road he worries about.
“Every Friday, Saturday, the out-of-staters are northbound doing 70, 75, and on Sunday, Monday they’re back southbound doing the same thing,” Jamo said. “People just don’t understand. Look, this is not the interstate system. If you have a head-on collision at these speeds, you guys aren’t going to survive.”
“we could smell it coming from the glove department”. REally?? Weill at least the state police and now get rid of the k9’s for the department because the troopers can smell it coming from the compartments now…jeesshh
Maine green smells to high heaven, especially if it’s the ‘ghani/skunk bud cross. Double and triple baggies cut it down some, but still it smells pretty nice…eh, strong. I meant to say strong. Unless it was dirt commercial, I’d say it could be smelled unless it was packaged properly.
That being said, driving around like a nut with a bag O’weed, just compounds the stupidity.
That’s why they call it “DOPE”, son.
good point…stupid for sure
Stoned, fat and stupid is no way to go through life son…
Mason jars are the only way.
Or just don’t street race while transporting, and never carry more than a 1/4 ounce at a time if you can avoid it.
I believe you read, and gain knowledge, but you live and gain wisdom. I did dumb things, and now tell my girls to not do that. I hope they will be alright.
Well its a good thing they are gaining wisdom on public roads
If you died, you were a part of the lesson.
Well a cop can make up any reason they want to search . If they do not find any thing they will say I could smelled it or they were nervous. Get yelled at by a cop when your a kid and tell me you are not nervous. Cop” Do you know why i stopped you” ? “I will almost always say I do not think thier is a right answer to that question” . Cop “Where are you going” . My reply will be “I do not know I might be going to jail” . Be honest and they find no humor . Gets a ticket almost every time . You can not win. I guess I need to pretend I am mute.
The way to “win” is have a nice hair-cut. A well kept beard, better yet clean shaven, and legal wheels. L.L Bean attire and a Prius will not harm. Be active in local government, and state when you can. Go Republican. Then the law may bend for you….
Funny when I pointed out to a guy that he had no front plate his reply was I am not to worried about it my wife is a state rep. It may have been a joke. It was funny trying to get my goat I guess. He is real decent person . Just the laws are bent of some . Cops seem to pick on poor people with no stickers and let People with newer cars go for expired stickers Ones to lazy get away with it way more than they guy who has tried his best and just cannot afford all the work. I propose the Fair thing to do would be make laws like inspection stickers be a percentage of the cars worth. You want to raise funds. Its seems fair to me. Now it is never about what is fair is it?
You’ve got it, David.
Most cop are decent people. The people who make the laws are probably more to blame than the cops. It is human nature to do your buddy a favor. Then when you mix politics with things it makes a dangerous situation. The brownville mother who let kids drink got 5 years. She made a mistake but 5 years? She had kids not she may not have even been a good mother . I did not have a great up bringing but I know my parents loved me. That being said I no I would not be doing as good as I am today If I was brought up In DHHS care. ALMY brought up when kids are abused as in cases or sexual abuse it is important they testify. WELL TELL ME MR. ALMY HOW MANY CHILD RAPIST YOU LET OFF WITH LESS THAN 5 YEARS?????? To my I do not care much about laws I have my own sense of what is right and wrong. Sometimes the laws are just unfair or unjust. Some people in power seem to be borderline evil . I know I am off subject. these kids need to loose thier lic. Ya think If MR. ALMY was caught driving 91 he would go to jail? We need laws fair for all people.
agreed.
The mom in Brownville, vs. perverts, = no contest. 6 months to 5 years is a travesty.
So, they went by the cop doing 80, he turned around, chased them down and caught them. How fast was he going in order to do that, 110 or so? Yeah, that makes sense. There’s some good, solid crime fightin’ right there.
You want the cops to say/do what? I can see it now …
Bangor Daily Headline; Local Cops in hot water after they let a speeder go because he was driving too fast!
He found a speeder, he followed them and he wrote a speeding ticket. It’s probably the most basic function for a patrol officer. And you want to make it out like he should have let them go?
Grow up.
If only they would put radios in the cop cars, he may had been able to radio ahead to another officer in a better position, like in front of these 4. Maybe someday, after i’ve grown up, we may have this technology.
Police don’t just chase people or pull them over without notifying a dispatch center. P.S. they do this on a radio.
Well timed, I just became a grown man.
Or maybe some sort of automatic photographic equipment that would take a picture of the car and license plate with a radar gun reading?
Kids make mistakes . Get a plate number sometimes is the safest thing to do . Going 110 just to stop a speeder can sometimes be more dangerous than the speeder itself. How many innocent people have die because A cop would not back off just a bit. Is a judgment call. I am not saying let them go . How about getting a plate number. One way ticket to jail for a Kid doing 91 a day off without pay when a cop wrecks a car doing it. Now if that cop had not hit a deer they most cops have completely looked the other way about it.
I’m all with ya, Brother.
How many times have we all seen police speed when not on a call or to an emergency. I am thinking if I tried to stop one I would be the one in trouble . I got a ticket for no seat buckle . took my son to the parade the next day and many without seat buckles . (Might be a parade exception in the law) . It dose not set a good example for kids.
Here is my rant…. Most people are good. Bill and others will have us believe that all drug dealers target children, all children are on drugs, and all drug users are not productive to the outside world. Well, people are still good. Regardless of their occupations, or medical and recreational private lives. Cops, while you’ve got some bad ones, as with dealers and users, are mostly good. I trust almost all cops in a time of need,(God forbid), as I do the local farmer….AKA, “drug dealer”. ,but cops are human. We must remember this.
Can’t you see the irony here? The police created an even more hazardous situation by taking chase at speeds like this. The cop said himself that one of them almost crashed when he saw the police car bearing down on them. My point is that there must be a safer way to apprehend idiots like this. Being a police officer doesn’t automatically make one qualified to drive at speeds in excess of 100 mph.
Cops are trained to drive fast. Their cars are built to drive fast and are maintained with higher standards. Yes, being a police officer qualifies them to drive at speeds in excess of 100mph.
The safest way to apprehend idiots like this would be a high powered rifle, short of that I think it wise to keep on doing what we’re doing.
Cops are trained to drive faster, shoot straighter, and smell better. And they can estimate to the dollar property damage. They have no emotion, and always react rationaly, with much reserve. Just like Washington.
I’d agree with that statement.
Let me guess, the smell better part?
Oh yes cops are the best drivers in the world. Maybe they do get some training. I have had cops pass me at speeds I would have to guess were 140mph. I was doing 80 and they were out of site in less than 30 seconds . How fast can they go. I will tell you at speeds over 100 It takes a long distance to stop. I have many times herd cops brag about making trips off duty in short amounts of time. They say it help being a cop. What these kids did was plane
wrong . They was some cops tend to look they other way when thier buddies are speeding is just as wrong.
You’ve got to be kidding…
Thats why the law requires you to pull to the right of the roadway and come to a stop. Probably something that is above “you.”
Spoken like the true owner of a riced-out Ford Fiesta. Bravo!
what smell
91 thats all
They spent all their money on fart cannons and altezzas. I’d venture to guess they couldn’t point out the BATTERY if they opened the hood.
They should have their licenses suspended for 5 years for drag racing. End of story. No probation, no commuter license.
Then, have to retake driver training, or drivers ed. Just like when teens get their 1st license.
Because it worked so well for them the first time…
;)
And crush their cars
kids inexperienced, driving here at 91, wow, probably driving a souped up lawn mower car with loud exhaust thinking that they are invincible, while at the same time the experienced cop, was driving great American powered car…no wonder he caught them!!!
Most cars today will do well over a 100 . Its not like the Chevy chevete days .
Yeah but MOST cars…it takes a while for them to get over 100. In racing (aka legal racing) acceleration (torque) is just as important as top speed (horsepower).
And yeah, they were ricers. Probably driving 4-bangers that top out around 120ft-lb/150hp. 91 likely felt like warp-speed to them (and it likely took a mile or two to get there)
dummies
“They were just driving like morons.” Like morons? They ARE morons. Take away their toys and their licenses too.
This is STREET RACING, not DRAG RACING. This is how drag racing gets a bad name. I hate it when they call it this.
Maybe the guys were wearing dresses. Ever think of THAT!?
I’m surprised they can horse around driving like that considering the price of gas. Must be a handsome profit to be made selling weed.
The profit is terrible, which makes them all the more dumb.
Title of new movie filmed in Maine …………………….THE SLOW AND THE FRUSTRATED ! Let me guess the 4 cars involved were all the little foreign jobs with 4 cyllinders and big , loud, obnoxious mufflers ! Its a good thing they stopped making muscle cars with v-8s in them or todays geniuses really would be in trouble !
You can have all the horsepower in the world, but you still cant outrun Radio Waves!
Lets see 186,000 mile per second hmmmm . If you could the cop would not be able to see them in the first place.
Apparently this reporter knows nothing about drag racing. What was described here couldn’t be further from any form of drag racing. Drag racing is a race where two participants go from a standing start and race for either an 1/8 or 1/4 mile.
This sounds more like 4 ignorant yahoos (with nothing better to do on a Saturday night) out raising hell and driving fast. There was nothing in this story to indicate that they were racing, just driving way too fast in a group of 4 cars.
No need to badmouth the sport of drag racing for the sake of inflaming the headline.
I take it these guy were arrested on the spot rightly so.. Car towed. Funny when the cop hit a deer at 91 in a 45 he only got a day off without pay. Maybe more people will respect the law when more police do and punishment is the same for all.
My point exactly. Thank you.
Ohh snap, I forgot “The fast and the Furious” had a marathon yesterday, apparently these guys didn’t miss it.
Big deal. They should send a few LE’s down rt 9 now and then. 90 is about average.
“Every Friday, Saturday, the out-of-staters are northbound doing 70, 75, and on Sunday, Monday they’re back southbound doing the same thing,” Jamo said. “People just don’t understand. Look, this is not the interstate system. If you have a head-on collision at these speeds, you guys aren’t going to survive.”
That should be a clue for the state to increase cash in the general fund!
Oh man CMON…list the cars!! I’d bet money it went something like this:
Dodge Neon
Chevy Cavalier
Saturn…Whatever(?)
Honda Civic
Gee whillikers, policeman Nathan Jamo, if you already know that out-of-staters are using their normal cruising speed of 75 miles per hour or so at certain days and times, why in holy blazes don’t your police department try to catch these people as well as the local draggers? Seems this is being allowed, rather than being stopped. Did your training ever mention “police presence” in your studies? (Yes, and thank you very much for patrolling this road when you did). Even if you park a marked police cruiser in the area, people will slow down. Plus, the listing of the vehicles another blogger reported below don’t seem to me neither of them could hold speeds over 60, let alone over 90 mph!
When vehicles are running at speeds well over 65 on any rural roadway, tell me just how fast vehicles pulling out of driveways or into driveways for that matter, can escape getting hit; or even if a fast-mover is going at 80+, if it loses traction and control, it may strike a house. Unless signage is obvious and law enforcement presence is made continually on this and other stretches of roadways, this will continue until people are killed.
I like old spice, does that make me a bad person?
I like you, no matter what…
What if I really liked speed stick more? But it makes my pits itchy …
Like I said… no matter what… after all, I pay for ya….
Now do my bidding!!!
SPEED stick … get it? … oh boy
But you already said Old Spice, now I can’t trust you……