FARMINGTON – A New Vineyard man was arrested Thursday night after he threatened a Franklin County deputy with a loaded shotgun, then led deputies on a 4-mile high-speed chase along Routes 27 and 4.
Michael Brown, 26, also attempted to strike another deputy, who had put down a spike mat in an attempt to stop the car, Deputy Michelle St. Clair said Friday.
Brown was arrested on charges of Class C criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, passing a police roadblock and eluding a police officer, St. Clair said.
He also could face federal firearm charges, she said.
St. Clair said she was attempting to do a requested welfare check on Brown, who has a long mental health history, when she stopped his car on Route 27 in New Vineyard, near the Barker Road just before 8 p.m. Thursday.
“When I walked up to the car, he had a shotgun pointed toward the door where I was standing. It was on his lap,” St. Clair said.
The deputy said Brown said, “If I’m gonna go, I’m going to take somebody with me.'”
“I talked him into putting the gun away and was trying to talk him into getting out of the car, but he proceeded to lead us on a high-speed chase,” St. Clair said.
Sgt. Steven Lowell sprayed pepper spray in his face while deputies were trying to talk him out of the car, she said, but he took off into Farmington.
Deputy Aaron Turcotte put down spike mats on Route 4 in front of the entrance to the county jail and sheriff’s office, she said.
“He attempted to strike Deputy Turcotte with the vehicle” St. Clair said, and Brown continued the high-speed chase, but he ended up stopping at a roadblock Farmington police set up on Route 4 in front of Aardvark Outfitters.
He didn’t hit the spike mats; he just stopped, she said.
Brown was apprehended at gunpoint, St. Clair said.
He was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington and then to Acadia Hospital in Bangor.
The “12-gauge shotgun was loaded with one shell in the chamber and the safety off,” St. Clair said. Brown also had .22-caliber rounds and .38-caliber rounds in his possession, but the guns were not located, she said.
She did not know if Brown owned the shotgun, the deputy said.
Brown’s mother said this is the fourth time guns have been taken away from her son, St. Clair said.
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