NORWAY – The Police Department has dealt with OUIs, but the offenders usually aren’t driving snowmobiles.

Officers Douglas McAllister and Keith Tilsey responded Saturday to the call of a snowmobile accident at Norway Center Road. On arrival, they found the sled lodged in a snowbank and its rider, Steven W. Chick, 48, of Norway standing uninjured in the road.

After failing a set of sobriety tests administered by the officers, Chick admitted, “I can’t do this. You got me already. Take me to jail,” the officers wrote in an affidavit filed at 11th District Court in Paris.

Chick was charged with operating a snowmobile under the influence and later with two counts of criminal threatening for statements made against McAllister and Oxford County corrections officer William Grover. He was released from the Oxford County Jail on Monday on $200 cash bail.

The accident is not unprecedented, police say.

“It probably isn’t that rare,” police Chief Robert Federico said.

Snowmobile issues are usually handled by Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife wardens.

“It’s definitely a problem,” said Federico, “but obviously it’s uncommon for us.”

It’s more common to the Maine Warden Service. Warden Lt. Pat Dorian said there have been at least 10 OUI snowmobile cases statewide from Jan. 1 through Feb. 25 this year. Dorian estimates that the number of OUI-related fatalities is “very close to 50 percent” of Maine’s total snowmobile deaths.

Mark Latti, DIF&W spokesman, said OUIs represent 25 to 40 percent of total fatalities, though both he and Dorian point out that the numbers fluctuate from year to year.

Latti stresses that OUI incidents are minuscule when compared with the total ownership of snowmobiles.

“We’ll generally have a dozen to two dozen OUI incidents per year,” he said, adding that Maine has 80,000 to 100,000 registered snowmobiles.

Operation of a snowmobile in Maine by someone 21 years of age or older with a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent or higher is illegal. According to Dorian, a snowmobile OUI conviction does not impact the operator’s motor vehicle driver’s license, though the fine for a first offense is $400. Judges will take prior motor vehicle offenses into account, and operation of a snowmobile with a blood alcohol level above .15 percent will result in mandatory jail time.

The department has undertaken a strategy of higher fines, stronger enforcement, and greater education to cut down on OUIs. These efforts include the use of posters and coasters in bars to warn of penalties for operating a snowmobile under the influence.

“It’s not only for OUIs, but for general snowmobile safety,” Latti said of the campaign.

Intoxicated snowmobilers are more dangerous on narrow trails, but police still recognize that potential danger on the road.

“Our biggest concern is to other people sharing the road with him,” Federico said.