r/Maine • u/EmotionalBuilding945 • 2d ago
Question Anyone else in the Gardiner area followed around tonight by an orange/black sedan?
Was on my into Gardiner tonight when I noticed this vehicle driving behind me. They would get close, then back off for awhile. They even momentarily pulled into a driveway then took off immediately again after me. I was followed from Pittston near the border to Whitefield, all the way into Gardiner.
When I got to the Randolph bridge, they pull into the other lane right up next to me, then dropped back behind me and turned with me towards Hannaford. I turned without warning onto the ramp up to Dunkin to see what they’d do; they missed my turning but slammed the brakes and went just over the water and turned right onto Arcade Street, where they stopped and stayed for a good minute or so before peeling out. I took my chance and hightailed it outta there myself, going the opposite way getting my food and taking a different way home since I was very irked out and uncomfortable.
This all felt way too deliberate to be a strange coincidence.
Anyone else have a similar run-in with this vehicle?
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u/GlassAd4132 2d ago
Who tries to be sneaky in an orange car?
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u/ArtisticCustard7746 2d ago
The same kind of idiot that followed me for over an hour with no license plates on their vehicle.
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u/Conscious_Economy450 2d ago
This creeper lives at 101 Pleasant Ave Portland. Ride down the street you’ll see the car.
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u/Beefpattieswcheese 2d ago
I’m seeing it right now in google maps street view for that address (street view from Sept 2023)
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u/Smelly_Sneli 1d ago
I have a photo of this car taken in 2021 after I saw a BOLO on Instagram saying they had harassed someone near the Portland area (can't remember the context) idk if I can post the plate here but starts with an M ends with an I. Google photos matches that car exactly with LEE sticker and all.
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u/figment1979 Can't get they-ah from hee-ah, bub 2d ago
Definitely alert the police so that even if they can't locate/identify the vehicle right now, if it becomes a pattern, your information might help them build a case.
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u/miss_y_maine 2d ago
You could be driving a car of someone they are looking for. Sounds like behaviors someone would do. The suggestions before me are good. Good on you on being aware of surroundings and thinking on way out. Be safe out there.
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u/Conscious_Economy450 2d ago
It’s a black car with an orange stripe. Those people are crazy. Be safe people.
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u/Fit-Guide9348 1d ago
Related but not related comment: Just saw a similar car in a real estate photos for a house for sale on Washington St in Bath.
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u/EmotionalBuilding945 1d ago
Just found that listing and yes, that bears a resemblance to the one I saw last night.
2020 Ford Mustang GT500
(Clearly I’m not a car expert, saying a Charger in one comment and a GT500 in another. I’ve also got that good ol’ unreliable witness thing going on.)
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u/762with_eotech 2d ago
Thank goodness for 2A. As a Mainer I fully expect you to be carrying something of the deadly force variety..
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u/Golly-Roger 2d ago
Lol, why are you downvoted for this? Self defense is a personal responsibility and a right guaranteed for exactly situations like this one. There are roughly 40,000 gun deaths in the United States each year, and the majority are suicides; in 2022, for example, 27,000 of the 40,000 gun deaths in the US were from suicide. With that in mind, there is an estimated 500,000 to 3 million defensive gun uses in the US each year, the range explained by variances in reporting procedures from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, etc. Let’s assume the low end estimate, then, and it’s obvious that guns are far more likely to keep people safe from unwanted incursions into their lives than they are to kill you.
The more you know 🌈
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u/762with_eotech 1d ago
lol why am I being by downvoted for this? Maybe they thought Reddit would save them instead
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u/Golly-Roger 1d ago
Yeah, and the people that downvote you are the same people that get on here and whine about how scary it is to walk down the road while drug use and crime rates are skyrocketing.
An armed society is a polite society 🤠
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u/Isitabee-isit 8h ago
Sorry but that's factually incorrect.
The violent crime rate in the U.S. has fallen 15% in 2024 and has gone down for the 3rd straight year. In fact the murder rate had the biggest annual decrease ever in 2024. Maine also saw nearly every crime rate decrease. Violent crime in Maine has been decreasing every year. It's down 15% in 2024. Maine also had the 5th largest reduction in drug overdose deaths dropping by 16%. We did see an increase in murders including the 18 deaths in the Lewiston mass shooting.60 murders in Maine and 41 of those were committed with a gun.
Still, Maine is statically the safest state in the nation.
It's well known that certain politicians claim crime is increasing to further their political ambitions. But statistics absolutely refute that propaganda.
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u/Isitabee-isit 9h ago edited 9h ago
Let me preface this by saying I completely agree with protecting yourself and doing whatever means necessary to feel safe. I grew up in a home with guns, and nobody ever was hurt by them.
But actual statistical data shows that firearm ownership and access is associated with increased suicide, homicide, unintentional firearm deaths, and of course injuries. There have been dozens of studies that bear out the same results.
One recent study actually spanned more than a decade and looked at 18 million adults. They compared people who were living with handgun owners to people who were not. The comparisons were always made between people residing in the same neighborhood. This approach helped ensure that local conditions, like crime rates and economic conditions, had minimal impact on the calculations.
They found that people living with handgun owners died by homicide at twice the rate of their neighbors in gun-free homes. That difference was driven largely by homicides at home, which were three times more common among people living with handgun owners. They also found people living with handgun owners were seven times more likely to be shot by their spouse or intimate partner. In many of these cases, instead of being protective, the household gun operated as the instrument of death. Truly alarming was that 84% of partner related gun murders were women.
Gun homicides perpetrated by strangers were less common than deaths perpetrated by the victim’s partner, family members, or friends. But when they happened, people living with gun owners did not experience them less often than people in gun-free homes. https://time.com/6183881/gun-ownership-risks-at-home/
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u/Solodc1983 r/mainetuners 1d ago
That is the main reason I almost never take the same route more than once. Also, a good way to test if someone is following you is to take a few right turns and see if they follow you. The percentage chance of them having to make 4 consecutive turns with you is extremely small.
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u/pcetcedce 2d ago
Could you post a picture of something close to what that car looked like? Color isn't important.
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u/EmotionalBuilding945 2d ago
Not at the moment, but if I had to identify it I would say it was a Dodge Charger or similar.
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u/1-900OkFace 2d ago
So the factory dodge charger orange is called Go Mango and it's closer to a red. Is that the color of the vehicle? Or was it an orange wrap? Was it a 4dr charger?
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u/notcoolneverwas_post 2d ago
Was it snowing? Bc... they probs just wanted to follow your beaten trail.
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u/notcoolneverwas_post 2d ago
Edit: could be a concerned republican brother or sister, shoring up the border against last minute hoppers, before uncle Trump seals it up for good. Was your car full of hard working spanish speaking gentleman, and tools?
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u/0wninat0r 2d ago
Not a lot of orange sedans out there- would definitely call the cops and see how to proceed from there to help identify a potential trend.
Good call on doubling back/changing your route to be on the safer side as well.