MEDWAY, Maine – Four teenagers were lucky to survive with only minor injuries from a joy-riding incident that ended with them flipping over a car on Jr. Mack Road and landing roof-first in a stream, police said Thursday.
The teens also were lucky that they couldn’t be arrested or summoned, East Millinocket police Patrolman Kevin Giberson said.
“It’s not because we didn’t want to,” Giberson said Thursday of the lack of arrests. “The law only applies to what happens on a public way. There’s no [motor vehicle] law that applies to what happens on a private way.”
“This easily could have ended with four fatalities,” he added.
The teenagers — an 18-year-old male, 15-year-old boy and girl, and 14-year-old boy — were treated and released from Millinocket Regional Hospital following the accident, which occurred at about 4 p.m. Wednesday.
The 2007 Chevy Cobalt they were driving, which was owned by the father of the 18-year-old, was totaled, Giberson said.
The 15-year-old boy who was driving would have been charged or summoned with operating without a driver’s license and the 18-year-old would have been charged with allowing the illegal operation of a motor vehicle, Giberson said. All would have been cited for failure to wear seat belts.
The 15-year-old boy might have also been charged with driving to endanger, Giberson said.
The incident began when the 15-year-old driver headed down Jr. Mack Road, a private way, when he approached a wooden bridge about a half-mile south of Powersville Road. The driver was going a bit fast for conditions — a dirt road — and began to lose control of the car, Giberson said.
He accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake and drove the car into one side of the bridge, flipping the vehicle over and landing it into what Giberson said was a stream. Giberson did not recall the name of the stream.
“They were upside down in a stream in about four feet of water,” Giberson said. “The car was entirely underwater. They were lucky enough in that because there was enough water in there to cushion the impact.”
At this point, Giberson said, came the only other piece of good news he could see in the situation.
Though partly ejected from the car and deeply frightened, the 14-year-old kept his head enough to help the others escape the vehicle and fast-moving current, Giberson said.
“The 14-year-old actually pulled all three kids out of the car,” Giberson said. “He kept his head and remained cool and collected. I certainly don’t condone how this ended up, but I commended him at the scene for keeping his head.”
The teens’ parents were both angry at their children and grateful that they escaped unharmed. Giberson, meanwhile, said he could reconcile not being able to make arrests in a situation like this.
“You certainly would like to send a message in situations like this [with arrests] but the laws are what they are,” he said. “As lucky as they were and as scared as they are, a pretty good message was sent.”
How about stealing the car ?
It belonged to the 18 year olds father….the 18 year old allowed the younger kid to drive it. Where is the theft? I’m shocked no charges can be filed. I wonder how the insurance company is going to handle this!
I would bet the father did not let the 18 year old boy take it . How about endangerment ? I think the could make charges if they wanted to these kids all of them should at the very least get probation . Maybe they will learn? but with no punishment for doing wrong why should they. If I did something like that when I was a kid My dad would have got the gun out. The 18 year old is an adult .
Re-read the article. The Officer said they didn’t break any laws because they were on a PRIVATE road. It’s a logging road near where I live.
Lets see If I take my truck In my back yard and run into a tree and kill some kids No laws broken. Right child endangerment . I do not care what the officer said. I think would be a much different standard I could be wrong.
An OUI arrest can be made on a private road. Not sure what Patrolman Giberson ment.
You are certainly correct. A person can be arrested for OUI on a private Rd. That, along with driving to endanger are about the only motor vehicle laws that can be enforced on a private rd according to Maine Motor Vehicle Laws. Im sure they were checked for operating under the influence of alcohol or drugs. And for driving to endanger you have to prove criminal negligence as an element of the crime. Losing control of a vehicle on a dirt road unless they were going incredibibly fast for the conditions, or unless one of the passengers stated there was some intent on the drivers part to hurt them does not fit and most likely would never be able to be proven in court. It seems this particular accident is a case of driver inexperience and some very bad choices made by some teenagers putting themselves in a risky situation. This is a situation where discretion comes in to play. 4 teenagers made a mistake, and by the grace of God, were lucky noone was killed and lucky for their future that motor vehicle laws did not apply here. A car was totalled and 4 teenagers hopefully learned a very scary lesson about how dangerous driving a car can be and what a priviledge it is to operate a motor vehicle in Maine. This particular incident is a situation for parents to handle and I feel the police handled it very professionally and appropriately and I’m glad there are Officers out there willing to use discretion under the right circumstances.
You go out there and attempt the same thing as an adult and see if you get away without charges.
Exactly, but I am not getting the big bucks the Chief is getting, so am not gonna help them, and there are other charges as well.
PRIVATE road. There are charges that can be filed!!
Are you really that dense?
easy one for the insurance company. pay nothing.
If the law isn’t able to charge them with anything then here’s hoping the parents of these kids mete out some type of punishment…I know that’s asking a lot, many parents don’t like to admit their angels do anything wrong and will defend their right to do foolish and dangers acts, but there should be some kind of consequences in order for them to learn a lesson.
If my child did something like this, she would wind up wishing the police had been able to arrest her!
I’d beg to get arrested rather than face my folks if that was me!
If you think for one minute being harsh is going to teach any lesson except how to be harsh, than I feel sorry for your children.
The laws of Maine need to be reviewed as laws pertaining to private or woods roads only empower the young people to take advantage of driving on them. They were not speeding, it was all driver inexperience and ignorance…
In my opinion, the standard for getting a driver’s license should be much higher. We revoke firearm privileges if a man slaps his wife, but any nutcase with half decent vision can drive two ton weapons at speeds in excess of 100 M/Hr.
We can’t trust 16 year old kids enough to let them vote, why do we let them carelessly endanger themselves and others in what are oftentimes life-changing ways?
I hope you’re joking.
Not at all. If you disagree, I’d like to know why. As I mentioned earlier about the revocation of firearm privilege, anyone who is known to be a drug addict cannot own firearms under federal law, yet the same people can wield massive vehicles at a high velocity whenever they wish.
In 2009, the total number of firearm related deaths in the U.S was 31,347, while the total number of motor vehicle related deaths was 33, 808.
The distinction is clear to me. Nearly 34,000 deaths in one year are not a joke.
people are always going to be doing stupid stuff and will sometimes have adverse side effects of their actions.
Do you remember turning 16? and finally getting your license?
getting your freedom? your ability to start your journey towards self-sufficiency?
When i got my license, it enabled me to get a job, which enabled me to improve my quality of life, ease the burden of transportation off of my parents, and become a taxpaying citizen.
It was freedom, and it was awesome.
to take even that away from young adults would be a gross injustice.
No, hopefully he isnt joking, I agree completely.
please explain why you agree.
do you want to be the nanny for everyone’s teenagers?
do you want to be carting your kids around until they’re 18 to everything?
your kids want a job? well you’d better be ready to drive them sometimes up to 30 minutes away after you get out of your job, if you even work.
your kids want to go shopping? well, i certainly hope you have time to drive them all over the place.
do you not believe in the ability for even your own children to improve themselves?
I think that your desire to restrict these people’s rights is concerning and against everything that is logical.
Well you can’t get your license at age 15 in Maine, either. This kid didn’t even have a license yet. We don’t know the reasoning for his driving-the 18 year old let him? I had a friend role over in a car with a boyfriend when we were teens and it haunted her for years, with much fear everytime she rounded a corner too fast in a car. Lucky kids, and I hope they learned a lesson.
I was “joy riding” down in back of my parents house when i was 10.
“We don’t know the reasoning for his driving”
um, maybe because it’s fun?
Well I get that it’s ‘fun’! M point was why did the 18-year-old allow a non-licensed kid to drive his parent’s car? For fun isn’t a good reason.
Agree with your higher age requirement however this scenario involved and inexperienced driver who should not have been driving, was unfamiliar with the road and the car. He was not going faster than 15 MPH at the time of the incident… It is not like they were going 100 MPH…
Good thing Darwin wasn’t around the area that afternoon.
Sounds like common sense is prevailing here. Arrests don’t always solve the problem; hopefully good parenting and lessons learned will go much further with these kids.
Similar situations when I was a dumb teen scared me straighter than I think being entered into ‘the system’ would have.
Yeah right, and this is where we are in the world today, arrests do not always solve the problem, but it wouldnt hurt.
Some people think giving someone a ticket is the answer…. They were raising hell and destroyed a vehicle….Most likely they will get a good butt chewing,,,,,Atleast these kids wernt bubble wrap kids…..LOL
Betcha there won’t even be close to a good butt chewing, Stevey! These are probably
“not my child” kids who will continue to exhibit thoughtless behavior because Mom and Dad have no clue how to parent … the charges listed in the article should be levied, as well as the costs of what it took to “rescue” them and take care of them in the hospital! Hey, maybe even a night in the local county jail? The television show “Scared Straight” had some real merit to it!
Only weak people don’t do something because of fear. Fear shouldn’t be how we keep younglings from doing things. We shouldn’t scare the crap out of them to send a message, because the message that sends is that its okay to intimidate people. We should be educating our kids and teaching them to be responsible, not scaring them into passivity.
“The law only applies to what happens on a public way. There’s no [motor vehicle] law that applies to what happens on a private way.”
sounds like it’s time to get rid of public ways
Congratulations, you win the “dumbest post of the day” award.
We usually take the private ways, that way you can sip on a cold sud on route to our destination…
This a situation for the parents to handle not some police officer bent out of shape because he can’t write a ticket or summons.
Who’s bent out of shape?
And the 2nd dumbest post of the day.
Not all actions such as this rise to level of the need for an officer to issue a ticket. Evidently you see it differently. have a nice day
I don’t see anything in the article that implies the police officer was “bent out of shape.” He simply explained what happened and what the law was regarding private roads. You were exaggerating. Plus, there are many instances where you should thank your lucky stars when a cop gets bent out of shape – like when he arrests a drunk driver who could kill you or or family, or when he arrests someone trying to break into your home. Personally, I hope they get very bent out of shape about things like that.
The point is that all matters do not recquire a charge. Too often today commen sense does not prevail with police officers bent on the issuance of a summons. You are comparing this accident to true criminal behavior which the situation here is not.
Yep, it always seems the police and most other people simply cant wait to charge someone for a crime, or have someone arrested for something. Its like, there’s this attitude that everyone is a criminal who deserves to do time. Clearly these kids were just bombing around. Stupid, sure, but I don’t think we need to instantly say that they should be thrown in the joint.
Have any friends or family members posted ‘this was an accident and it could have been your kids ‘ yet ?
No, only because no one was seriously hurt.
Now wait a minute.
If the 18 year old recklessly crashed the vehicle on a private road and passengers were killed. There would be no charges for the deaths?
Some law[s] seems to have been broken, it was not a motor vehicle law, but some other law seems to have been broken. A DA should look into this crash.
I’d think so. Obviously the 18 year old let the 15 year old drive. No responsibility taken here because it wasn’t a public road? Doesn’t make sense.
Reckless conduct seems fitting……..
Title 17-A: MAINE CRIMINAL CODE Part 2: SUBSTANTIVE OFFENSESChapter 9: OFFENSES AGAINST THE PERSON
§211. Reckless conduct 1. A person is guilty of reckless conduct if he recklessly creates a substantial risk of serious bodily injury to another person.
2. Reckless conduct is a Class D crime. Looks like a “chargeable offense” to me ?
Good post,hits the bull-eyes.
How about the vehicle going into the stream, dumping hazardous waste chemicals like oil and antifreeze into the waterway.
this must be news to the IF&W. when stopped by wardens while out going to and from hunting camps on logging company roads, besides checking our licenses, they claim to be checking that we are wearing seatbelts. have been told it is required even on woods roads?
Well I think the patrolman should check with a DA or read the statutes, OUI and Driving to endanger apply on both public and private ways. Most others, including the other charges stated do not. Lots of kids drive dad’s truck on the back roads hunting all the time, but hopefully with dad or someone responsible along for the ride.
§2413. Driving to endanger
1. Definition. A person commits a Class E crime if, with criminal negligence as defined in Title 17-A, that person drives a motor vehicle in any place in a manner that endangers the property of another or a person, including the operator or passenger in the motor vehicle being driven.
Sounds like that to me.
Private way? What about a trespassing charge?
Someone’s parents need to kick their butts but good.
Those officers better start reading titles 29 and 17 again, sounds like a political “don’t touch them” thing. Where is the Chief on vacation?
This wasn’t an instance of irresponsible or reackless kids defined as joy riders… It was a lack of judgement of an 18 year old giving the wheel to a 15 year old with no right to be behind the wheel. They were not speeding, just a lack of experience and unfamiarity with the road and car… The consequesces are that they got hurt and are dealing with their bad decision to ride with this driver… Let’s not label them a delinquents but just be glad they are all ok and can live to recall and learn from this serious lesson.
Did you ever make a mistake at this age?
“There’s no [motor vehicle] law that applies to what happens on a private way.”
That is why you can mow your lawn or ride a vehicle around your door yard while drunk…
People always want to argue that you can…..
Having some fun, relax people….