A Windham man with a suspended driver’s license was arrested last week for operating under the influence (OUI) and multiple other charges after he allegedly sped past Westbrook High School at over 65 miles per hour, police say.
The speed limit in school zones is 15 miles per hour when school is in session, as defined by Maine state law.
According to Westbrook Police, officers received a report of a dangerous driver on Stroudwater Street shortly before 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Officers were able to locate the vehicle near the cemetery on Stroudwater Street and observed the vehicle moving erratically and dangerously, police said.
After officers attempted to pull the vehicle over, the driver refused to stop and drove away at a high rate of speed down Stroudwater Street, passing by the high school at a speed of at least 65 miles per hour, according to police.
The suspect was eventually stopped due to a red light and held up traffic at the intersection of of Stroudwater Street and William Clarke Drive, where police removed the suspect from the vehicle.
Police say that the suspect’s car was littered with the beer cans, and that he had a suspended driver’s license for a previous OUI conviction.
The suspect was identified by police as 34-year-old Brandon Patten of Windham.
Patten was arrested and charged with OUI, driving to endanger, operating after suspension, driving to endanger and refusing to submit to arrest or detention.
Was he let out on Bail, he does not look illegal>
I’m not so sure that this legally was a school zone — at 1PM if the children are in the building and the signs aren’t blinking, it isn’t — and school doesn’t let out until 2 PM…
There goes your school zone and operating to endanger, as it is only 65 in a 45 — they’ve still got the OUI and operating after suspension and failure to stop, but whatever happened to cops going after people for what they DID, particularly when that is bad enough…
A.__Fifteen miles per hour when passing a school:
(1)__During recess;
(2)__While children are going to or leaving school during opening or closing hours;
(3)__When indicated by posted signs or flashing light signs erected for the purpose of regulating speed; or
(4)__At times and places as designated by the Department of Transportation or municipal ordinance;