Updated at 4:30 p.m.

UNITY — A Burnham man was arrested Wednesday afternoon on charges that, while he was driving under the influence of drugs, his car swerved off the road and slammed into a parked vehicle, knocking a 61-year-old woman into a ditch.

Joshua D. Bither, 18, then sped away from the scene of the accident, police said.

The victim, Deena Whited, of Unity, was taken by ambulance to Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast with nonlife-threatening injuries. Whited was released from the hospital late Wednesday night.

“I’m glad to be alive and not hurt more than I was,” Whited said today from her home. “I have soft tissue injuries, a sprained wrist, a black eye. My head was hurt.”

The crash was reported at 3:48 p.m. at Whited’s residence at 90 Stagecoach Road. Whited had just parked her 2009 Toyota sedan in a driveway and was standing outside the car’s driver side, according to Bob Keating, chief deputy of the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office.

Whited said she was checking her mailbox when the car came around a corner and took out a utility pole guidewire.

Bither, driving a 2002 Hyundai sedan, veered off Stagecoach Road and struck the passenger side of Whited’s vehicle, Keating said.

The impact jolted Whited down into a ditch, Keating said.

“I went flying,” Whited said. “I bashed my head on a rock or something. And my cell phone went flying out of my hand.”

Bither drove away from the scene, but a dazed Whited was able to provide police with a vehicle description and partial license plate number. Whited  yelled “stop!” at the car, but it continued on.

Keating said the accident caused an estimated $4,000 in damages to Whited’s vehicle.

Whited said she staggered back to her house, where a family member called 911.

At 4:03 p.m., Dep. Dave Mushrall pulled the vehicle over on Unity Road in Thorndike. Bither was driving, and there was a 17-year-old male in the passenger seat, Keating said. The vehicle’s registered owner was a family member of Bither, Keating said.

“Joshua stated the damage to his vehicle was pre-existing and denied involvement in the accident,” but after further questioning by Mushrall, Bither “finally admitted he had left the scene,” Keating said.

Bither was charged with misdemeanor counts of operating under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident involving injury and failing to report an accident. During the arrest, Mushrall was assisted by Sgt. Dale Brown and Dep. Nick Oettinger.

Bither was taken to the Waldo County Jail in Belfast and was released about midnight after posting $250 cash bail. He’s scheduled to be in Belfast District Court on Jan. 18.