ROCKPORT, Maine — A Thomaston man is claiming he is innocent of charges he drove over a seal with his boat, then drove recklessly with his child in his car a week later.
Not guilty pleas were entered on behalf of Adam L. Dodge, 27, by his attorney, Eric “Rick” Morse, in Rockland District Court.
Dodge is charged by the Maine Marine Patrol with killing or injuring an animal with a motor vehicle. The charge results from an incident in which the Maine Marine Patrol responded to complaints Aug. 13 in Rockport Harbor that a seal was intentionally struck by a boat.
Dodge also is charged with endangering the welfare of a child, driving to endanger and possession of drugs in relation to an Aug. 21 incident in Union.
Marine Patrol Officer Wesley Dean said the day after the Rockport Harbor incident that multiple witnesses reported seeing a man aboard a small wooden skiff with a small outboard motor intentionally strike and ride over a seal in the inner harbor near the boat launch. The incident occurred shortly before noon.
Dean said the witnesses were on land near where the incident allegedly occurred.
Dean said he was not able to find the seal when he responded to the report.
The reported attack on the seal came a week after the broadcast of a documentary on Rockport’s most famous seal, Andre, and the man who cared for him, Harry Goodridge.
The incident for which Dodge was charged with driving to endanger happened Aug. 21. Police say Dodge sped off in a car when Knox County Sheriff’s deputies spotted him smoking marijuana in the vehicle while at the Union Fairgrounds. He stopped after a very brief chase. When Dodge was stopped, officers said a 2-year-old was in the vehicle.