Apr. 16—Yarmouth police officers spotted the bright, teal-colored van soon after it crossed the town line on Thursday afternoon. Portland had already alerted them that it had been reported stolen that morning, so Yarmouth started to follow the vehicle north on Route 1.
Soon, a nearby Freeport detective in an unmarked car spotted it and joined the chase, despite a department policy that states “unmarked vehicles should not be used for continuous pursuit.”
When the van crossed back into Portland, several video snippets of the pursuit were documented on social media as bystanders pulled out their phones to record the van leading at least eight police cruisers through the city, with their sirens and flashing lights activated.
A Press Herald review of each department’s chase policies shows the large-scale police response violated some of their own rules, though department leaders say breaking them was a necessary choice because of the circumstances — the driver had hit two police cruisers before being arrested on the railroad tracks at the end of Commercial Street.
Each policy outlines a number of conditions for officers to weigh before even beginning a pursuit, like the traffic and road conditions, the danger the suspect poses to the public and the severity of the crime. The policies clearly state that officers must not continue dangerous pursuits unless there is a need to immediately apprehend the suspect. And even then, there are limits on which officers, and how many, should engage.
THE PURSUIT
After the van was reported missing from the Pedego Electric Bike store in Portland on Thursday morning, officers from the Portland Police Department attempted to pull over the driver near the city’s border with Falmouth, said spokesperson Brad Nadeau. No Portland police officers followed the vehicle when the driver pulled away and headed north, nor did they participate in the later pursuit, he said.
The chase began in earnest when officers from the Yarmouth Police Department saw the distinctive van heading north on Route 1 around 1:30 p.m. Freeport police then received calls that it had been spotted near the intersection of Route 1 and Desert Road around 1:39 p.m., said Freeport Lt. Paul Powers.
That’s when the Freeport detective joined in the unmarked cruiser. Powers said breaking policy was unavoidable because the detective “happened to be right in the exact location at that time.”
“Sometimes there’s no way around it,” Powers said.
After the van had crossed into Freeport, the driver headed south on Interstate 295 back toward Portland. Yarmouth police attempted to take the driver, a 33-year-old Portland woman, into custody near Exit 17, but she put the vehicle in reverse and “drove into the back of the police cruiser, nearly striking the officer and fled,” according to a press release by the department.
Three units from Freeport and five units from Yarmouth then trailed behind her on I-295, alongside a Maine State Police trooper who joined the chase near Exit 20 and left near Exit 8, said spokesperson Shannon Moss.
Moss said troopers only join other agencies’ pursuits if they follow state police policy, though she declined to share a copy of that document “for safety and operational reasons.” (State police has refused to release their policy for years).
Yarmouth police Chief Dan Gallant said the van was going between 75 and 85 mph, and sped up to 90 mph just south of Exit 10.
When the van arrived in Portland again, it hit another Yarmouth cruiser, according to the department’s release. On one stretch of Allen Avenue, where the speed limit varies between 30 and 35 mph, the van reached up to 50 mph, Gallant said.
He said three Yarmouth officers left the pursuit at various points in Portland. One video captured near the Morrill’s Corner intersection showed as many as eight vehicles involved in the chase from at least two agencies.
The chase ended around 1:55 p.m. when the van stopped on the railroad tracks at the end of Commercial Street, Powers said. Two Yarmouth officers and two Freeport officers broke a window to remove the woman from the van and took her into custody.
She was brought to Cumberland County Jail and charged with reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and operating after suspension, as well as other violations related to the chase. She is being held on a $500 cash bail.
NOT A ‘NORMAL’ CRASH
According to policies for both Freeport and Yarmouth police, pursuits should be limited to no more than two vehicles unless a supervisor authorizes more. Gallant said the actions of the driver warranted a larger response because she posed a threat to law enforcement.
“Pursuits are something that are relatively infrequent for Yarmouth,” Gallant wrote in an email. “This was not a ‘normal’ crash, this was an intentional violent act. Based on the information that was reported, I believed that the person operating the vehicle had committed a violent felony.”
He said his department will be conducting an after-action review this week and examining the agency’s policies, which is common practice for “other significant events.”
Powers said the Freeport police remained involved in the pursuit because, given the threats and type of vehicle (a van they could not see inside), officers wanted to have ample backup.
“It’s really a matter of the unknowns,” Powers said. “It’s better to have extra hands and not really need them, as opposed to needing extra hands and not having them.”
For Portland police, department policy states there can be no more than two units engaged in a pursuit and unmarked vehicles are not allowed unless approved by a supervisor. If outside agencies violate these rules, the Portland shift commander must request that the other agencies terminate the pursuit, according to the policy.
Though no Portland officers participated in the chase, Nadeau said the shift commander was “in the process” of requesting that the other agencies end their pursuit. When he learned that the driver had intentionally hit police vehicles and almost hit an officer, the shift commander did not make the request, Nadeau said.
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