LEWISTON – An Auburn man was arrested Thursday night after witnesses said he drove his truck through a fence and into the side of an apartment house at Birch and Bartlett streets.

Mark Duval, 33, was charged with drunken driving and leaving the scene of a crash after police caught up with him on Horton Street where he fled on foot.

Several witnesses identified Duval as the driver who lost control of his Ford pickup at about 9:30 p.m. while driving on Birch toward Bartlett Street.

“He didn’t stop or nothing,” said Tina Souto, who witnessed the crash from her home across the street. “He drove right up over that fence and into the house.”

Duval was not hurt in the wreck. Witnesses reported he had been stopped near the Birch and Bates streets moments before driving away and crashing.

“I was just starting to cross the street when he took off in his truck,” said 43-year-old Vince Brock. “He flew right by me.”

The pickup truck slammed into the corner of the house after crashing through a wire fence next to the sidewalk. The hood of the truck flew open in the crash and the front end was mangled.

In the back of the pickup, Duval had been hauling a stove, which remained upright in the bed of the Ford.

“I hear this big bang,” said Rick Kenney, who also lives across the street. “I looked out and he was moving around inside the truck. He got out and started just walking down the street.”

When the wreck was first reported, police Officer Jason Nadeau was in the downtown area. He learned the suspect had fled toward Horton Street and headed in that direction in his cruiser. Nadeau caught up with Duval at Horton and Birch streets. He was handcuffed and taken back to Bartlett Street where witnesses identified him.

The extent of damage to the house was not known Thursday night. The truck struck the side of the house outside the kitchen area of an apartment.

“He could have driven right into that house and hurt someone,” Souto said.

Duval was being booked at the Androscoggin County Jail late Thursday night.

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