FARMINGTON – A Wilton man is accused of shooting at a deer on the side of the road and continuing to shoot at the animal as it ran down Route 156 while traffic was going by.
Theodore Hastings, 46, was released from Franklin County jail Thursday on personal recognizance bail, a corrections officer said Friday.
Hastings was arrested Tuesday by his probation officer on a charge of violating probation and was charged by Maine Game Warden Gary Allen with unlawful discharge of a firearm and a felony charge of reckless conduct with a firearm, Mark Latti, spokesman for Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said Friday.
Hastings was on probation for a previous criminal trespass violation, Latti said.
Two witnesses reported Nov. 9 that they saw someone shoot at a deer on the side of the road, Latti said, and when the deer took off down and across the road, Hastings took two more shots as traffic was going by that morning.
One of the witnesses thought she was in Chesterville, he said, and the other didn’t know exactly where he or she was.
It turned out the incident took place in Farmington, he said, and Allen and Warden Dan Murray solved the case.
The unlawful discharge of a firearm charge stems from shooting over and across the roadway, he said.
Under Maine law, a person cannot shoot from or over a paved way, Latti said.
The reckless conduct charge comes from endangering the lives of others, he said.
Latti said he didn’t know if Hastings got the deer he was shooting at, but Hastings did register a deer later that day.
Hastings is scheduled to appear Wednesday, Dec. 28, in 12th District Court in Farmington, Latti said.
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