BELFAST, Maine — Police say that a man allegedly driving drunk last week wrecked both his vehicle and an antique water pump station when he failed to navigate the sharp turn at the intersection of Head of the Tide Road and Route 7.
The driver, Anthony Gillcrist, 32, of Jacksonville, Florida, suffered no major injuries in the crash, which happened just after midnight Friday, Nov. 21, according to Chief Mike McFadden of the Belfast Police Department. The pump station is located on a median at the intersection.
“A lot of vehicles go off the road there,” McFadden said. “This particular vehicle couldn’t navigate the curve and slammed head-on into an ancient pump station, an old covered well. It’s sort of the centerpiece of the neighborhood.”
The impact of Gillcrist’s Jeep destroyed the stonework, McFadden said, and the vehicle rolled over on its passenger side and came to a halt. Gillcrist was suspended by his seat belt.
“He was sort of trapped behind the steering wheel,” the chief said.
Gillcrist, the only person in the car, was taken to Waldo County General Hospital to be treated for injuries McFadden described as “not major.”
“Alcohol was a factor,” the chief said, declining to share Gillcrist’s blood alcohol level.
Belfast police and a Belfast Ambulance crew went to the scene of the accident, which was reported to authorities by a neighbor who heard the impact.
Gillcrist was issued summonses for operating under the influence and for having a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle.