OXFORD — A Bridgton man faces multiple criminal charges after leading police on a brief high-speed chase on Route 26 early Wednesday morning.

Andrew P. Horan, 27, was charged with operating under the influence, criminal speeding, eluding an officer and operating after suspension, Oxford police Officer Jeremy Coron said.

The officer said he was running radar near the intersection of Route 121 in Welchville village at about 2:15 a.m. when he recorded a Pontiac Grand Am headed north on Route 26 at 82 mph in a 40 mph zone.

When he pulled out to pursue it with his emergency lights on, the car accelerated, locking its brakes as it took a sharp right turn onto Route 121, before taking a sharp left turn into The Big Apple convenience store and getting back on Route 26, Coron said.

Coron said he slowed down to follow the car and saw it stop in the parking lot of Daddy-O’s restaurant, about two miles north of The Big Apple.

Horan tried to hide that he was the driver by trading places with one of the two passengers in the car, Coron said.

“When I approached I watched (Horan) run around the vehicle and jump into the passenger seat and the passenger jump into the driver’s seat,” Coron said.

According to Coron, Horan claimed he was not the driver and the two passengers would not say that he was driving the car, but would also not tell Coron who the driver was.

“I had enough probable cause to yank him for it,” Coron said.

According to Oxford police Sgt. Alan Coffin, Horan was tested with an Intoxilyzer at the Oxford County Jail in Paris. He later appeared in South Paris District Court.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Horan remained in jail on $1,000 cash bail, $10,000 worth of property or a supervised release contract with Maine Pre-Trial Services.

pmcguire@sunjournal.com