A Naples man faces charges of drunken driving and trying to escape from police after he abandoned his car and was found hiding in the vestibule of a shopping plaza Monday night, police said.

Daniel Lajoie, 62, was charged with criminal operating under the influence – made more serious because of a prior drunken-driving conviction – refusal to submit to arrest, criminal speeding more than 35 mph over the speed limit, eluding an officer and drug possession.

A Cumberland County Sheriff’s deputy was following a car east as it left a Naples restaurant at 10:40 p.m. The car quickly speeded up to 67 mph through downtown Naples, where the speed limit is 25 mph, police said.

The car swerved onto Route 35, then turned into the nearby shopping plaza, police said. The driver stopped in the plaza parking lot and ran to a store vestibule where he tried to hide behind a wooden pillar, police said.


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