A Skowhegan man was arrested Saturday after police said he crashed a car on Thurston Hill Road in Madison, causing serious injury to himself and a woman passenger.
Leslie Ridley Jr., 36, was charged with leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident/aggravated, driving to endanger, operating after habitual offender status, operating under the influence and motor vehicle speeding of 30-plus miles over the speed limit, according to Chief Deputy James Ross of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office.
The crash took place around 4 p.m. Saturday near the intersection of Route 201.
Leslie Ridley Jr.
A woman whom police identified as Michael Whitman, 35, of Skowhegan was a passenger in the back seat of the 2013 Honda Accord and was reportedly unconscious and trapped in the vehicle with a serious head injury.
She was extricated by the Madison Fire Department and transported to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor for possible lif-threatening injuries.
The front seat passenger, Forrest Ruman, 43, of Skowhegan, suffered minor cuts and bruises and was treated at the scene and released, Ross said.
Meanwhile, Ridley fled the scene and police brought in a dog to try and locate him. He was found by a Maine State Police trooper in an unmarked car farther down Thurston Hill Road. He appeared seriously injured and was trying to ask for a ride.
The crash remains under investigation but speed and alcohol are believed to have contributed to the cause, according to Ross.
State police also assisted the sheriff’s office in reconstructing the crash.
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