Vince Berube will undergo psychiatric treatment.
AUBURN – The 43-year-old Norway man who was shot by three Lewiston cops last month after nearly attacking one of them with a hammer was released from one hospital this week, and admitted to another.
Vince Berube spent a month at Central Maine Medical Center, recovering from gunshot wounds and self-inflicted cuts on both of his wrists and his chest.
Doctors discharged him Tuesday.
Later that day, after making a brief stop at Androscoggin County Superior Court, he was admitted to the psychiatric unit at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center.
Berube leaned on a walker Tuesday as he stood before Justice Ellen Gorman and pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and criminal mischief.
He was released without having to post bail, on the condition that he remain at St. Mary’s. If he is discharged from the hospital while the criminal charges are still pending, he will either go to jail or return to court to have bail set.
According to a police affidavit, Berube was bleeding from both wrists and several small cuts on his chest when he showed up at the Lewiston police station on Dec. 17 and started smashing police cruisers with a hammer.
Officer Carley Conley started to approach Berube after she heard him banging on the cars and yelling obscenities, Detective Brian O’Malley wrote in his affidavit.
As soon as Berube saw Conley, he raised the hammer above his head and charged toward her. According to the affidavit, Berube ignored Conley’s orders to drop the hammer, prompting Conley to draw her gun and shoot him.
“Officer Conley is 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 120 pounds. Berube, who is 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs 210 pounds, continued to charge at Officer Conley with a hammer raised above his head,” O’Malley wrote. “Officer Conley, fearing for her safety and life, then fired her weapon.”
Berube was on his knees when Officers Matt Vierling and Eric Syphers heard the shots and ran into the yard, the affidavit states. Again, Berube ignored orders to drop to the ground, prompting the officers to fire more shots.
According to O’Malley’s affidavit, Vierling and Syphers thought Berube was armed.
The Lewiston Police Department has called the incident “a clean shooting.” Under normal procedure, the case has been handed over to the Attorney General’s Office for an investigation.
Berube remained in the custody of the Lewiston Police Department while he was at CMMC. While at St. Mary’s, he is under the custody of Maine Pre-Trial Services.
If convicted of the charges of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and criminal mischief, Berube faces up to 10 years in prison.
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