A Skowhegan man has been charged with drunken driving after he reportedly crashed his car in Madison and then left the site with an unconscious woman trapped inside the car and another passenger injured.
Not long after 4 p.m. Saturday, first responders extricated Michael Whitman, 35, from an overturned 2013 Honda Accord that police say Leslie Ridley Jr. crashed into the trees off Thurston Hill Road.
An ambulance crew took Whitman, a Skowhegan resident, to Eastern Maine Medical Center with “serious head trauma … [and] possible life-threatening injuries,” according to Chief Deputy James Ross of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office.
A second passenger, Forrest Ruman, 43, also of Skowhegan, was treated for cuts and bruises and released at the scene of the crash, but the driver had “fled,” Ross said in a statement.
A Maine State Police trooper later found Ridley, 36, asking for rides farther down the road, the deputy said. He was taken to the hospital for serious injuries and arrested upon his discharge, Ross said.
In addition to drunken driving, Ridley was charged with driving with habitual offender status. The crash remains under investigation, and Ross said that police consider speed and alcohol to be among its causes.
Follow the Bangor Daily News on Facebook for the latest Maine news.