By Christopher Williams,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Dale Tracy had just parked in front of the hospital emergency room entrance Tuesday morning when a van pulled up next to him.

He looked over at the driver and noticed the man was pointing a handgun at his own head.

“I got a little nervous,” Tracy said.

His mother-in-law, who sat in the passenger seat of Tracy’s pickup truck, was about to get out and walk into the hospital.

They decided to leave instead.

But when Tracy started to back up, he noticed the lights and sirens of a parade of police cruisers streaming in behind him, blocking his escape. Police jumped out of their cruisers and yelled to Tracy and his passenger to get out of the truck and take cover.

They complied.

It was the start of a standoff that would last for more than an hour.

Peaceful end to standoff

Edward Leo Fitzherbert, 61, of Poland surrendered peacefully after Maine State Police Tactical Team officers, dressed in fatigues and toting assault rifles, surrounded his van.

He was loaded into a wheelchair and pushed into St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center for observation shortly after noon.

Fitzherbert was supposed to be in court where a jury sat awaiting his trial on three counts of gross sexual assault, two counts of assault and one count of unlawful sexual contact. The charges involved a girl younger than 14, according court records.

He had been free on bail and had talked to his lawyer, Thomas Goodwin, that morning, who later said his client had been depressed and anxious. They had talked at length about the need for Fitzherbert to go to the hospital to evaluate his mental health “to see if he needed some kind of help,” Goodwin said.

Before the lawyer had a chance to formalize arrangements, Fitzherbert left his house. Meanwhile, deputies from Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office had been sent to his home when he failed to show up in court.

“Everyone was concerned about his mental state,” Goodwin said.

Court records showed Fitzherbert was single and lived with two teenage children.

…

At about 10:30 a.m., Auburn police sighted Fitzherbert’s van. They gave chase across the bridge into Lewiston where that city’s police joined in the pursuit. In all, more than a dozen cruisers responded. The van rolled slowly through the city streets, its emergency flashers blinking. At first police thought the driver only had a cell phone to his ear. It was later confirmed he was holding a gun.

The van pulled into the hospital emergency room entrance around 10:45 a.m. and stopped. Police blocked both exits, hemming in the van a car’s length away. Roughly a dozen officers had drawn their guns and, assuming a shooting stance, trained them on the man sitting in the van. One officer rested a shotgun on the roof of his cruiser, pointed at the passenger window of the van. They slipped spike mats under the rear tires of the van.

Police kept clear, shielding themselves with their cruisers. Bystanders were cleared from the area and out of the line of fire. Police waved their arms, yelling, “Go! Go! All you guys get out of there! Run!” Police used Tracy’s truck and open passenger door as cover while they aimed their pistols at the van.

…

At about 11 a.m., Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Rielly Bryant, wearing a tan suit, walked up behind the van, a cell phone to his ear. Earlier, while still in his office, Bryant had started talking to Fitzberbert seeking to calm him.

At 11:30 a.m., an officer trotted up to Bryant at the standoff with a bulletproof vest. Leaning on the trunk of a cruiser, Bryant donned the vest. Another officer helped him into his suit jacket. All the time he talked on his cell phone.

Shortly after, police called in the tactical squad. Goodwin was brought to the scene by state police. Reporters were pushed back around the side of the hospital, out of the line of fire and sight.

After noon, Fitzherbert agreed to step out of the van, unarmed, said Lewiston deputy police Chief Michael Bussiere.

Fitzherbert was told to walk backward and put his hands behind his back, Bussiere said. He was handcuffed, put in a cruiser, then transferred to a wheelchair and taken into the hospital. His van was impounded and police were seeking a search warrant. He was booked at Androscoggin County Jail at about 5 p.m. with no bail, pending a hearing.

Sheriff’s Department Capt. Ray Lafrance said Fitzherbert could face several charges stemming from the incident, including terrorizing or causing a police standoff.

Meanwhile, Tracy was waiting to get his truck back and get his mother-in-law home.

“It all happened kind of fast,” he said. “I’m just glad she’s safe and I’m safe.”

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