Print
E-mail
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
University of Maine men’s hockey player Nicholas Payson, 21, and future hockey player Joseph Diamond, 20, were charged Sunday with operating under the influence and possession of alcohol by a minor, respectively, according to spokespeople for the Bar Harbor Police Department and the University of Maine.
Payson was stopped around 1:45 a.m. on Sunday, July 26, on Route 3, according to Sharon Worcester, the dispatch supervisor for the Bar Harbor Police Department. Payson posted bail of $40 directly from the police department and spent no time in jail. Both Payson and Diamond were summonsed to appear in Ellsworth District Court on Sept. 8 at 1 p.m., where they will be arraigned and enter their pleas.
Payson was driving erratically and tailgating but was not speeding, according to Adam Vanwhy, a dispatcher for the Bar Harbor Police Department.
Following the charges, Payson has been suspended indefinitely from the team, according to university spokesperson Joe Carr. “There’s a standard practice that the Athletic Director follows when an athlete is charged with a crime,” Carr said.
Diamond has not been suspended, since he is not actually a student of the university yet. He will go before the athletic director later this week. “Technically he hasn’t signed the code of conduct,” Carr said, though he added Diamond is still reponsible.
Payson will meet with Athletic Director Blake James and discuss the future of his hockey career at the university later this week.
Payson was charged with aggravated assault in January 2008 but the state decided not to pursue the complaint, according to a clerk at the Penobscot County Court. He was indefinitely suspended from the team until the charges were dropped. The forward was a redshirt freshman this past year, and played in 17 games for the Black Bears. Before coming to UMaine, he played for the Portland Junior Pirates for two seasons. A native of Veazie, he played his first three seasons at Bangor High School where he starred for current UMaine Assistant Coach Dan Kerluke. He was also a standout football player at Bangor.
Diamond is a native of Long Beach, N.Y. and a forward.
—
Adam Clark contributed to this report.
Related Posts:- Hockey player facing charges (January 31, 2008)
- Four players charged for criminal trespass in hockey incident (November 21, 2005)
- B’s turn tables on HABs (April 23, 2009)
- Meet our “cool as ice” first-years (November 5, 2007)
- Topsham resident charged with OUI following cross-campus joyride (February 27, 2003)
