MEXICO – A Mexico man accused of terrorizing his girlfriend and trying to run over police with his pickup truck this weekend remained behind bars on Tuesday, unable to post reduced bail.

Lawrence LaPoint, 51, of 156 Poplar Hill Road, is charged with two felony counts of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon (a truck), domestic violence assault, terrorizing, and criminal mischief regarding Saturday night’s incident.

At his initial appearance on Monday in Paris, an Oxford County Superior Court justice reduced LaPoint’s initial bail of $15,000 to $500, and set conditions that LaPoint stay away from drugs, alcohol, dangerous weapons, and the victim. LaPoint was returned to jail.

The incident began shortly after 8 p.m., when LaPoint’s girlfriend of nine years called police, saying she feared for her life. Police were aware that LaPoint owned several weapons, and responded with additional backup, including state police, according to Mexico police Sgt. Roy Hodsdon’s incident report.

As the officers were talking with the 46-year-old woman outside a Poplar Hill house, LaPoint pulled up in his truck. Officers and troopers tried to approach the truck, but he sped off, attempting to run over officer Dean Benson and Rumford officer Matt Noyes, according to Hodsdon’s report.

Police took chase, and after losing sight of the truck, a tracking dog was brought in. Officers entered the backcountry woods, and found Lapoint in his truck, according to state police Lt. Walter Grzyb.

The hunt ended at 10:20 p.m., after a trooper fired on LaPoint’s truck, forcing him to surrender, Gryzb said. “He said he felt as though his life or the life of one of the other troopers was at risk, so a number of shots were fired that struck the vehicle (LaPoint) was in and he surrendered,” Gryzb said of the trooper.

The lieutenant declined to say if LaPoint, who did not return fire, was armed.

He also declined to identify the trooper or say how many bullets were fired. Because of the use of deadly force and participation of five troopers in the manhunt, the case is being scrutinized by state police and the Maine Attorney General.

The trooper, Grzyb said, is expected to return to duty on Wednesday, following three regular days off.

According to Hodsdon’s incident summary, LaPoint’s girlfriend fled their home and called police from Lapoint’s brother’s mobile home, next door.

When police arrived, the victim told Benson that LaPoint had assaulted her and she feared he would kill her. The woman told Benson that LaPoint grabbed her by the throat “after she had broken a porno CD of his and, that she would not buy him any marijuana,” or give him any of her prescribed Valium, Hodsdon’s report stated.

The victim also told police that LaPoint had forced her to buy him marijuana with her monthly disability check. And she accused him of assaulting her several times in the past few months, both physically and verbally, and said that he was not allowing her to bathe or buy food for herself, Hodsdon’s report said.

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