PORTLAND (AP) – The state supreme court on Thursday upheld the drunken-driving conviction of a man who contended he got behind the wheel to avoid the threat of a fight in the parking lot of a bar in Bucksport.

Timothy Nadeau contended he was going to his car to retrieve his gloves and cell phone before walking home when a large man with two friends tried to attack him and reached into the car before Nadeau started the motor and fled.

Nadeau had a blood-alcohol content of 0.22 percent when he was pulled over by police officers who had been watching the parking lot from 300 yards away.

Using what’s known as a “competing harms defense,” Nadeau contended he knew he was intoxicated after having four drinks. In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the finding of a judge who ruled against Nadeau in a bench trial in Hancock County Superior Court.

The judge suggested it may have been OK to drive across the parking lot to get away from his assailant, but that he had other alternatives than driving a mile to an Irving Station. Those included using his cell phone to call for help.

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