PERU – A Rumford man who was ripped off his snowmobile and knocked unconscious for a few minutes when he hit a tree Wednesday night suffered no injuries, investigating Maine Warden Brock Clukey said early Thursday evening.

“He had no broken bones, nothing. I was shocked,” Clukey said.

Clukey summoned Francis Arsenault, 31, on a charge of operating a snowmobile while under the influence and violating bail conditions. That came after Arsenault was released from Rumford Hospital and underwent field sobriety tests. Arsenault will be arraigned on May 1 in Rumford District Court.

“He was under the influence, no doubt about it,” Clukey said, adding that Arsenault was free on bail from a previous OUI charge. “He thinks that’s not right, but he was not to be consuming alcohol period. So, he violated that bail condition and was charged with a new crime, another condition.”

Clukey said he summoned Arsenault rather than arrest him because he was cooperative.

The incident happened shortly before 8:53 p.m. in Peru on municipal Trail 12 off Dickvale Road. Arsenault was wearing a helmet and driving an Arctic Cat 600 sled, leading a group of friends when he rounded a tight corner at the end of a straightaway, Clukey said. He is familiar with the trail.

“He was not going very, very fast, but I think he kind of overcompensated when he saw the corner coming up. I think that momentum threw him to the side of the machine and he hit the tree. He must have hit pretty hard, because it knocked him unconscious for three or four minutes,” Clukey said.

The sled was not damaged. One of the riders called 911, and Peru and Rumford firefighters and Med-Care Ambulance were sent to Dickvale Road, where the caller said they’d come out, Clukey said.

After a lengthy wait and no snowmobilers, Clukey rode his snowmobile up the trail looking for the group.

While in there, Clukey said Med-Care Director Dean Milligan, who was on scene, fielded a call, then radioed the warden saying Arsenault got out of the woods on his own, took his sled to a friend’s house, and had his girlfriend drive him to the hospital.

Clukey went there, while firefighters and a Med-Care crew worked their way out of the woods.