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Mass Maritime Academy Cadet Charged With OUI In Bourne Hit & Run

BOURNE (CBS) – A cadet at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy has been charged with running down three people in a hit-and-run early Friday morning.

Two of the victims are also cadets.

Police say a group of students were hanging out with friends at the Port-a-Call bar on Main Street Thursday night. The group of 20-to-30 people left and began to walk back towards campus shortly after 1 a.m.

Authorities say 21-year-old Max Yerger of Westerly, Rhode Island, was driving a small black sports car south on Academy Drive when he hit a fellow student.

As he backed up to see what happened, police say he struck two more people before driving off.

"He was driving like a maniac. He just came out of nowhere," witness Kristen Brigham told WBZ-TV.

One of the victims, a woman in her early 20's, flew about 45 feet in the air before landing on the ground.

She was rushed to Tufts Medical Center on a Medflight rescue helicopter. Police say she is the only victim not enrolled at the Maritime Academy.

The other two victims, both young men, were taken to area hospitals by ambulance.

Witnesses were able to describe Yerger's car and officers tracked him down in a nearby parking lot.

His blood alcohol level was 0.18 after the accident, according to police.

Yerger was arrested, charged with OUI, negligent operation of a vehicle, and three counts of leaving the scene of an accident with injury.

He was bailed out of jail on a $1,500 bond overnight. Police say he is a third-year student at the academy.

The victims names have not been released, but the most seriously injured was upgraded to stable condition this morning.

The academy president said the school is most concerned for the injured and they will deal with discipline after police finish their investigation.

"College presidents lie awake at night worried about this very thing," Admiral Rick Gurnon told WBZ.

You can follow Bree on Twitter @BreeSison.

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