Staff reports 7:58 a.m.
Friday, September 6, 2019 8:03 am

One of the drivers charged as a result of the sobriety checkpoint had a beer within easy reach. (Maine State Police photos)

LEBANON, Maine - The Maine Bureau of Highway Safety reported on Thursday that six drivers were charged with operating under the Influence during a Labor Day weekend checkpoint on Route 202.
Four of the drivers charged were for alcohol and two others were charged with drug-related OUI. Five of those drivers were charged at the checkpoint while the sixth was charged by a trooper who was driving home after the checkpoint ended.

Another had an array of empty beer cans on the floor of the front passenger seat.

In all more than 850 vehicles were stopped at the checkpoint and information handouts were given about impaired driving and the efforts to curb it. Field sobriety tests were given to 25 of those drivers. In addition to the OUI charges, six other drivers were charged with various offenses, including violating bail conditions, operating after suspension of their driver's license and driving without a license.

The York Sheriff's Office, State Police, Berwick, South Berwick and the York police departments, along with a New Hampshire State trooper manned the four-hour checkpoint along Route 202.