LEWISTON – A man who police say led them on a brief chase Sunday night was arrested on a host of charges after crashing his car into a pair of rocks in Auburn.

Roland Pelletier, 49, of 79 Old Chadbourne Road, was behind bars Monday on charges of eluding police, drunken driving, driving with a suspended license and driving to endanger.

He was also being held on a warrant charging him with failure to appear in court on an earlier charge of violating a protection order.

Police said they had broken off the chase about 9:55 p.m. Sunday after Pelletier raced across the South Bridge and into Auburn. Minutes later, officers learned that Pelletier had lost control of his car and struck two large rocks on Riverside Drive in that city.

Investigators said the pursuit began about 9:50 p.m. when a car was spotted driving erratically on Lisbon Street in downtown Lewiston.

Police Officer Matt Vierling and Sgt. Danny LaChance went to investigate and found the car spinning in circles in the parking lot at Kingfield Bank on Chestnut Street, police said.

In driving rain, police attempted to stop the car but the driver sped away, investigators said. Vierling and LaChance followed the car as the driver wove down Canal, Chestnut and Lincoln streets before cutting from Cross and Oxford streets over to the South Bridge.

At that point, police said the driver had accelerated to more than 50 mph as he headed into Auburn. With the roads slick and rain still coming down, police decided to end the pursuit and to search for the driver later.

“We didn’t want to jeopardize his safety, our safety or the safety of the general public,” LaChance said.

Although they stopped the pursuit, the two officers continued into Auburn, heading down Riverside Drive, where they had seen the driver speed off.

Shortly after, roughly four minutes after the pursuit had begun, the officers found the car up against the rocks near Gagne & Sons Concrete Blocks at 270 Riverside Drive.

Inside the demolished car, Pelletier suffered minor injuries, for which he was treated at Central Maine Medical Center and released.

“His seat belt saved his life,” LaChance said.