FOSTER — A 44-year-old man allegedly punched his girlfriend in the face and then, as the victim talked with the police in front of his house, drove his pickup truck up and down his driveway and crashed into a utility pole, toppling it.

The incident closed Mount Hygeia Road for about three hours Tuesday night while National Grid workers fixed the downed electric and telephone lines, but it did not result in any loss of power or telephone service, according to the police.

George E. Shabenas, of 50 Mount Hygeia Rd., was arrested and charged with simple assault and reckless driving. He was arraigned before a bail commissioner and was held overnight at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston on $40,000 bail.

He was formally arraigned in District Court in Warwick Wednesday and was issued a no-contact order with the alleged victim and released. Shabenas will appear again in District Court on July 25.

The police said a verbal argument between Shabenas, the owner of G.E.S. Construction, and his 34-year-old girlfriend, a Foster resident, apparently escalated that night, leading to the punch that left the girlfriend’s cheek bruised and lip bloodied.

Shabenas, who the police said was visibly drunk when arrested, left the house in his Ford F-150 pickup, and the woman called the police at about 8:20 p.m.

As an officer spoke with the victim in front of the house, Shabenas returned, driving his truck “at a high rate of speed” into the driveway, according to Police Chief Robert Coyne.

The truck came to a “sliding stop,” then Shabenas threw it into reverse and peeled into the roadway, Coyne said. Tires spinning, he tore down Mount Hygiea Road, heading southbound, Coyne said.

Then, attempting to return to the driveway, Shabenas slammed into a utility pole in front of his house and lost control of the vehicle. (The pole split in two and the electric and telephone wires fell across the road but did not snap).

The heavily damaged truck hit a large boulder in the front lawn, about 50 yards from the house, where it came to a stop. Shabenas, who was uninjured, fled on foot.

After a brief chase, Patrolman Mario Mennella and Sgt. William Ziehl caught Shabenas as he ran into the nearby woods. Shabenas did not try to explain his actions to the police.

pmarcelo@projo.com