# Maine Officer Slammed By Own Cruiser, Hospitalized



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Two officers were injured following an epic car chase

*KEITH EDWARDS*
_Morning Sentinel_

NEWCASTLE -- Police arrested two men following an armed bank robbery and car chase in which the driver allegedly injured two officers by ramming his pickup truck into their cruisers.

Witnesses said a police officer fired a gun after the driver, in a large Dodge Ram 3500 pickup, backed up into two police cruisers, injuring Waldoboro police Officer Jeff Fuller.

Fuller, the witnesses said, appeared to have either been struck by the truck or by the police cruiser rammed by the truck.

Both suspects were arrested a short time later when the truck left the road after driving over a spike mat placed by police.

Michael Kelley, 30, and Stephen Otis, 25, both of Westbrook, were each charged with robbery and aggravated attempted murder Tuesday. Both are to appear in Wiscasset Superior Court for an initial appearance in the next day or two, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said in a news release late Tuesday.

The chase began after police received a report of an armed man in a black hooded sweatshirt entering a Gardiner Savings Institution branch in Newcastle and fleeing the scene on foot with an undisclosed sum of money.

Keith and Jinny Taylor were at their Route 32 home in Jefferson when part of the dramatic confrontation played out on the street in front of them.

Around 10:30 a.m., the Taylors said, a large, silver, dual-wheel pickup truck came to a stop in the travel lane of Route 32. A Waldoboro Police cruiser stopped behind the truck and an unmarked cruiser pulled up alongside. Both officers got out of their cars, and at least one of them had his gun drawn.

"Then the truck spins his wheels and backs up unbelievably fast, and hits the Waldoboro cruiser," Jinny Taylor said.

Either the truck, or the cruiser, apparently struck Fuller.

"The officer got hit and he flew up in the air and landed in the road," Jinny Taylor said.

The truck then sped off, leaving Fuller in the road. The Taylors said he appeared to be injured in the hip area.

Keith Taylor called 911 to report the accident and say an officer was injured. The Taylors said the officer in the unmarked car told them he had fired a shot during the incident.

Lincoln County Det. Sgt. Ken Hatch also was injured during the chase.

Fuller was taken first to Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta and later transferred to Maine Medical Center in Portland with noncritical injuries. Hatch was taken to Miles Memorial and released.

Lincoln County Sheriff Todd Brackett said both officers were in satisfactory condition and were doing OK.

"During this incident, at least one round from an officer's weapon was discharged at the offending vehicle and its occupants," Lincoln County Lt. Rand Maker said in the news release. "Although the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office is conducting its own internal investigation into this use of deadly force, the Maine Attorney General's Office has been requested to investigate, as required by Maine law." As many as a dozen police officers were involved in the subsequent pursuit. Four police cars, and two bystanders' vehicles, were damaged during the chase.

No civilians were injured in the chase or robbery.

"It was a hair-raising experience for everyone," Brackett said.

Maker said police, primarily in two-wheel-drive cruisers, sometimes had difficulty keeping up with the four-wheel-drive truck on the ice and slush-covered, two-lane roads where the chase took place. But he noted police were able to get a deputy ahead of the fleeing vehicle by communicating with each other by radio. The deputy, he said, placed the spike mat that deflated the tires of the fleeing vehicle.

Maker noted the driver of the truck also tried, unsuccessfully, to ram a third police cruiser in addition to the two it struck.

"That indicated, to me, intent to use deadly force," Maker said at the intersection of Routes 213 and 215 in Newcastle, where the suspects were arrested. "They were desperate and willing to do what they had to do to get away from us."

Two other cruisers were damaged when they went off the road at the end of the chase, when the truck crashed and rolled onto its side down a steep embankment.

As the vehicle chase ended, both suspects fled on foot. One was caught immediately and the other within about 10 minutes, police said.

They did not physically resist arrest when they were caught. They were both taken to Miles Memorial where they were treated for injuries received when the truck overturned. They were later taken to the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. One of the suspects, already in an orange jail-issue jumpsuit, had a bandage on his face and was holding his arm.

After the robbery was reported about 10:10 a.m., a witness reported seeing a truck speeding out of the area. Hatch spotted the truck described by the witness near the Nobleboro and Damariscotta town line and attempted to stop it.

Instead, the suspects fled, driving north on U.S. Route 1 to Waldoboro; north on Route 32 to Jefferson, where the truck rammed the cruiser in front of the Taylor's house; onto Route 213; and back into Newcastle, where the chase ended.

Brackett would not say how much money was taken or whether police recovered cash or found a gun.

Brackett noted they essentially drove in a circle.


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