ROCKLAND — Reports of speed tend to garner attention. Erratic driving tends to heighten anxiety. But, when a police officer is overheard telling dispatch in an incredulous shrill that he’s now chasing a car through the 13th fairway, the listener stops cold.

Rockport and Rockland officers were trying to catch up with a driver after multiple reports of erratic operations through both towns. Though several officers were en route from various directions, it was a Rockland officer who ultimately caught up, just after 3 p.m. on Thursday, July 4, but wasn’t quick enough to prevent more damage.

The car went into a ditch on Route 17, followed the ditch for a few feet, plowed through a caution sign warning of rumble strip, and then entered and spun in the golf course.

When the car finally came to a stop, the officer learned quickly that the pursuit was actually a medical emergency. But until that moment, on the fairway, neither he nor the party following the vehicle and feeding details and direction of travel to dispatch, had any idea what they would encounter.

The erratic operation began in Camden, according to a Rockport police officer, and while the driver is hospitalized, the investigation will backtrack along his route to determine the specific damage that was caused. A tree may have been hit in Rockport. Witnesses watched the car speed into Rockland on Route 1. They saw him blow through at least one red light, though he did stop in another line of traffic at another red light. He was seen sideswiping cars, and at some point, he got a flat tire. 

Based on information provided, the officers anticipated that he was on his way home.

Rockland EMS transported the man to Pen Bay Medical Center.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com