LIVERMORE FALLS — Police said a Wilton man was charged with drunken driving Friday morning after his car went off Route 17 into a ditch and he drove off.

Arthur Hentschel, 51, was arrested on a charge of operating under the influence at approximately 9:16 a.m., police Chief Ernest Steward Jr. said. Hentschel was taken to the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.

Steward said police were notified of an accident at 8:37 a.m. The caller said a man drove into a ditch, got out of his car, got back in and sped off with weeds and brush hanging from the vehicle, he said.

Someone in the parking lot of Cumberland Farms noticed the car leaving the parking lot at about 8:51 a.m. and called police, he said.

Sgt. Vern Stevens stopped the car just north of the Post Office on Main Street and made the arrest, he said.

dperry@sunjournal.com