VEAZIE, Maine — Veazie police have charged two men with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants in two separate incidents.
Both cases involved male drivers with female passengers, both arrests started with traffic stops for speeding, and Veazie police Sgt. Keith Emery, who arrested both men, was watching traffic from the parking lot of the same State Street business when both men allegedly sped past it.
On Saturday, Aug. 18, Emery was monitoring traffic around 9:30 p.m. when he saw a vehicle speed past on State Street headed toward Bangor. Emery pulled the vehicle over and approached the male driver, Peter Cooley, 44, of Milford. A female passenger also was in the car.
Emery reported that he smelled the odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle and that Cooley’s speech was slurred and his eyes were bloodshot. Cooley told the sergeant he hadn’t had anything to drink that night, the report states.
Emery asked Cooley to step out of the vehicle and conducted a field sobriety test, which Cooley failed. Cooley was arrested, charged with operating while under the influence, and taken to Penobscot County Jail.
An intoxilyzer test showed Cooley had a blood-alcohol level of 0.18 percent, according to the police report. The threshold for OUI is 0.08.
Cooley had no record of any convictions, the report states.
Six days earlier, on Aug. 12 around 1:20 a.m., Emery had been watching the road from the same parking lot when he clocked a vehicle traveling on State Street into Veazie at 65 mph in a 35 mph zone.
Emery stopped the vehicle and identified the driver as Benjamin Malo, 29, of Veazie, who had a female passenger in his vehicle. The sergeant reported smelling the odor of alcohol in the vehicle and that Malo’s speech was slurred.
Malo admitted to drinking two beers that night, but failed a field sobriety test. During a portion of the test in which he was asked to write the alphabet from “c” to “w” on a piece of paper, Malo dropped the pen twice and did not sign or date the paper as the officer had requested, according to Emery.
Malo, who has a history of driving-related convictions dating back more than a decade, was charged with operating while under the influence and speeding 30 mph above the posted speed limit.
A intoxilyzer test later showed Malo had a blood-alcohol level of 0.17 percent.
