Maine State Police investigate 2 crashes with cruisers

Two separate vehicles crashed into Maine State Police cruisers on Friday, though no one was injured in either case, according to the agency.

The first crash happened in Lewiston just after midnight, as a trooper drove north on Interstate 95 while responding to a crash in Gardiner, with lights and sirens. A 2015 Ford pickup driven by 24-year-old Javier Martinez of Waterville then allegedly swerved erratically into the trooper’s lane, contacting the right side of the cruiser and causing minor damage to both vehicles, according to Shannon Moss, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Martinez was issued a summons on a charge of operating under the influence and released pending a court hearing.

Then, early on Friday morning, a trooper had just finished a traffic stop on Route 1 in Gouldsboro and returned to his cruiser, with lights still flashing, when the vehicle was allegedly sideswiped by a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by 71-year-old Andrew Pratt of Cutler, Moss said.

Pratt was summonsed on a charge of improper passing of a stationary emergency vehicle.