PERU – An underage booze party broken up by police and firefighters this week led to the arrest of a Dixfield teen after a foot chase through the woods, Maine State Police Trooper Jason Wing said.

Charges are also pending against two Peru teenagers believed to be associated with Monday night’s party who later crashed a car into a tree, seriously injuring themselves, Wing said.

On Monday night, Wing arrested Archie Ray, 18, on charges of refusing to submit to arrest, criminal mischief and being a minor consuming liquor. Ray was taken to Oxford County Jail in Paris and will soon be arraigned in Rumford District Court.

At about 8:30 p.m. Monday, Wing said he was called to the party at Main and Pleasant streets by Peru firefighters who were being delayed from extinguishing a fire by several unruly youths.

Wing said there were up to 20 teens aged 16 to 19 at the party.

He said he arrived to find Oxford County Sheriff’s Sgt. Timothy Holland, who is also a Peru assistant fire chief, detaining four youths. Holland said eight others ran into the woods.

With backup Deputies George Cayer and Brian Landis and Trooper Corey Huckins en route to help, Wing said he chased and caught one of the teens, later identified as Ray.

During the investigation that night into the party, Wing was sent at 1:10 a.m. Tuesday to Ridge Road in Peru, where he found a totaled 2000 Ford Taurus that had struck a tree.

Neither of the two 16-year-old Peru boys had a license to drive the car, which belonged to one of the boys and his parents, Wing said.

He declined to provide the boys names due to the pending investigation.

“I’ve been told that they were at the underage drinking party, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet,” Wing said. “But it looks like all these teens were involved with each other.”

Due to the severity of the accident, blood alcohol checks were conducted on each boy but results aren’t yet known.

“It looks like driver inexperience caused the accident,” Wing said.

When Wing arrived, he said Peru firefighters were tending to the crash scene and had closed the road to traffic.

A state police accident reconstructionist was en route as the two boys were being tended to inside Med-Care ambulances. Neither youth was wearing a safety belt, Wing said.

Med-Care took one boy to Rumford Hospital. The other was taken directly from the scene by LifeFlight helicopter to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

Wing did not know their conditions as of Thursday afternoon, but at least one suffered a broken leg.

State police impounded the wrecked Taurus and had M/T Pockets of Dixfield tow it away, Wing said.

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