WINSLOW – A Warren man was summonsed Monday night after police say the car he was driving veered off China Road, knocked over a utility pole and then damaged vehicles at a repair shop.

Stephen J. Little Jr., 23, was found in the woods after the accident and initially lied about whether he was the driver, police said.

Also found in the woods was a bloodied 13-year-old girl who was a passenger in the vehicle and is believed to be related to Little, police said.

Little was summonsed for driving after license suspension, leaving the scene of an aggravated motor vehicle accident, and leaving the scene of an accident involving injury.

Winslow Police Chief Jeffrey Fenlason said a 911 call came in shortly after 10 p.m. from a neighbor reporting that a car had hit a utility pole at Dr. Auto Repair. Officer Damon Lefferts responded and heard a girl screaming in the woods. She was found about 30 yards down a logging trail.

“The officer searched and found a 13-year-old girl bleeding profusely from the face and head, and she said she had been in a car crash,” Fenlason said. “Then the officer heard a guy — he wasn’t screaming, I’m not sure how he found him — in the woods.”

The man, Little, told Lefferts that he was upset at another man who had been driving the car when it crashed. Lefferts, however, determined that Little was the driver and the girl was a passenger, and there had not been another man in the car.

“Little had some marks on him — a cut on his nose, which is consistent from being hit by the steering wheel, and abrasions on his elbows from the air bag,” Fenlason said.

The girl was believed to be related to Little, but Fenlason didn’t know more details. She was taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center’s Thayer Campus in Waterville for treatment of a severe head injury. Little refused medical treatment, Fenlason said.

Police said Little was driving a 1996 Chrysler Sebring when it veered off the road and snapped a utility guy wire, bringing down a power line pole. His car then slammed into a parked car at Dr. Auto Repair, setting off a chain reaction involving five vehicles, Fenlason said.

Three customer vehicles at the repair shop — a 2000 Toyota Sienna, a 2002 Buick Park Avenue and a 2003 Ford Crown Victoria — each sustained about $8,000 in damage. Reggie Blanchard, owner of the repair shop, said that either Little’s insurance or his business insurance would cover the cost.

Little is scheduled to answer the charges Oct. 4 in Waterville District Court. According to the Maine Sex Offender Registry website, he was convicted in Knox County Superior Court in Rockland of gross sexual assault involving a child under the age of 14.

He was sentenced Dec. 14, 2006 to six years in prison with all but one year suspended and was placed on probation for six years. Because Little had completed his prison sentence, there were no stipulations against him having the 13-year-old girl as a passenger in his car, police said.

 

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