FALMOUTH — A Portland man faces drunk driving charges following a crash on Interstate 295 in Falmouth early this morning.

Ralph K. Jutkiewicz, 53, was driving a 1997 Ford Explorer northbound at 12:42 a.m. when he got into a dispute about a cell phone with his male passenger. The passenger, whose name was not immediately available, grabbed the wheel and caused the car to swerve into the large rocks that line that stretch of the highway, said Maine State Police Sgt. Robert Burke.

The passenger was partially ejected and had to be extricated from the vehicle by Falmouth fire and rescue workers.

Jutkiewicz was combative when Falmouth police arrived and he smelled of alcohol.
He and his passenger were taken to Maine Medical Center with serious injuries that were not life-threatening.

“We’re lucky they didn’t kill anybody out there, including themselves,” Burke said.

9:30 a.m.

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Two people were taken to Maine Medical Center early this morning following a single-car crash on I-295 in Falmouth.

The accident on the northbound side of the highway at mile marker 13 was reported at 12:45 a.m. and the occupants were partially ejected from the vehicle.

Further details were not immediately available.

 


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