CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou police responded to five reportable accidents between Jan. 11 and 15, and received a few calls related to deer injured by motorists. Ironically, none of the reportable incidents was related to the weather.
Administrative Assistant Laura Adams said nobody was injured in any of the accidents. The first, according to Adams, was a minor incident on the 11th occurring in an individual’s driveway, and again was “not related to the weather.”
The next two accidents occurred on Friday, Jan. 12. The first occurred on Dahlgren Street on Jan. 12, and involved a public works vehicle hitting a low hanging wire across the roadway, also causing a wire connected to nearby home to rip away from the house.
That same day in the Skyway Plaza parking lot “someone bumped into a parked vehicle while they were trying to park,” Adams reported.
On the 14th, police received a report of an accident at the intersection of Main and Park streets. Adams said “someone exited their driveway and crossed Main Street while attempting to enter Park Street.” In the process, the driver accidentally “hit a vehicle stopped at the stop sign” on Park Street.
The last reportable accident also occurred in a parking lot. Adams said one driver backed into another in the “On the Run” gas station parking lot on Bennett Drive on Jan. 15.
One weather-related incident did happen on Jan. 13, when a motorist driving a 2004 Mercury Sable on the West Presque Isle road slid off into deep water. Adams said the report does not indicate if the vehicle was damaged, only that the driver called to request a tow truck and told police the water was halfway up their tires.
Adams said that motorists also should be aware of deer on the roadway. On Sunday, Jan. 14, she said she saw roughly 25 deer while snowmobiling from Caribou to Washburn.
She added that police received two deer-related calls over the weekend. The first occurred on Saturday, and involved a motorist striking two deer at the intersection of Lombard and Washburn roads.
“We received the call after the fact,” Adams said. “The driver didn’t stick around, but both deer appeared to have broken legs.” Adams said she suspected the vehicle did not sustain a great deal of damage. Officers who investigated the scene found that one deer ran off while the other was near a windmill with two broken legs. After obtaining permission from the Maine Warden Service, the deer was put down.
Police received a similar call on Sunday, in which someone reported a deer was struck on Route 1 and that it “looked like it was still alive.” However, since the driver did not stay on the scene and nobody witnessed the incident, police were not able to classify it as an accident. Once an officer arrived, he saw the deer running over a snowbank, and noted that its leg did not appear to be broken.
