DAMARISCOTTA, Maine — An allegedly intoxicated 20-year-old man drove over a sign and into a large cement block on Main Street in Damariscotta, then left the scene the afternoon of Wednesday, May 4.
Griffin K. Palola-Harriman, 20, faces a single charge each of class D operating under the influence, class E driving to endanger, class E leaving the scene of a property-damage accident, and class E operating without a license, as well as a civil infraction of possession of alcohol by a minor [consumption], according to Damariscotta Police Chief Ron Young.
Palola-Harriman was driving a silver 2008 Honda CR-V north on Main Street at around 4:19 p.m. when he crossed the centerline and the southbound lane, left the road, and crashed into a Business 1 South street sign near Sullivan Tire, breaking it off at the base, according to Young.
The vehicle continued until it struck the cement block, probably an old streetlight base, according to Young. Witnesses said the vehicle struck the cement structure so hard and stopped so abruptly as a result that the rear end rose about 6 feet into the air. Police later recovered debris from the vehicle around the accident site.
Witnesses told police that the driver freed the vehicle and re-entered traffic, where the vehicle stalled. He re-started the vehicle and turned onto Biscay Road.
The Damariscotta Police Department received a report of the hit-and-run crash with a description of a small silver SUV with a lone male occupant, according to Young. The report followed calls about a vehicle with a similar description driving erratically nearby.
“Another operator said he nearly hit him head-on at Damariscotta Hardware,” Young said. “I think we got four reports of this guy’s driving.”
Young and Officer Tyson Fait responded down Biscay Road with lights and sirens on. Fait turned onto Lessner Road and encountered the vehicle driving back toward him and “weaving all over the roadway” with loose parts “flapping in the wind,” Young said.
Fait stopped the vehicle and conducted a field sobriety test, which Palola-Harriman allegedly failed. Fait arrested him and took him to Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset.
At the jail, Palola-Harriman became ill and officers called the Wiscasset Ambulance Service, which transported him to LincolnHealth’s Miles Campus in Damariscotta for treatment for alcohol poisoning.
“His [blood-alcohol content] was probably double the limit or higher,” potentially much higher, Young said. The hospital released him at about 11 p.m., when he was returned to the jail, where he remains in custody as of the afternoon of Thursday, May 5.
Young is continuing to investigate in an attempt to determine who supplied the alcohol and a place for an underage person to drink it.
The 20-year-old was engaging in dangerous behavior even before getting behind the wheel, according to Young.
“He had made a statement that he was playing a game to see who could drink the most,” Young said.
Young asks anyone with information to call him at 563-1909.
Palola-Harriman’s town of residence was not clear, according to Young. He had a learner’s permit listing an address in Boothbay, but said he lived in Bristol and attends college in Boston.