5 charged with OUI at South Portland checkpoint

SOUTH PORTLAND — Nearly three dozen motorists were detained and eight were charged on the first night of increased drunken driving enforcement. 

Police Lt. Frank Clark said 563 vehicles were stopped at a checkpoint set up by the South Portland and Cape Elizabeth police departments on the southbound side of the Casco Bay Bridge on June 26. 

Clark said 33 drivers were detained for further inquiry, testing or law violations. Five people were charged with operating under the influence, two were charged with operating without a license and one passenger was arrested on a warrant for allegedly failing to pay an OUI fine. 

Four people were released at the scene. But Clark said one individual returned a short time later and confronted officers who were conducting an inventory of his vehicle. He was charged with assaulting a police officer and refusing to submit to arrest. 

Police said they plan to continue their enforcement operations throughout the summer, especially this weekend. The OUI operation is being funded by a grant from the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety.