RUMFORD — A vehicle believed to be driven by a Livermore Falls man wanted by several police departments was found abandoned early Monday morning in Fayette after a high-speed chase, police said.  

Michael Gatcomb, 33, is wanted in a high-speed chase with New Hampshire State Police on Interstate 95 on Dec. 21. He is said to have jumped out of the moving car about 2 miles north of the York toll plaza in Maine.

On Sunday, Rumford police received a tip about a vehicle Gatcomb would be in, Police Chief Stacy Carter said Monday. At about 11:30 p.m. Sunday, police officer Lawrence Briggs spotted the vehicle but was not able to identify the driver, Carter said. The registration plate matched the vehicle which police were tipped about, he said.

“We were not able to confirm it was Michael Gatcomb but based on the information we received … we strongly believe that it was him,” Carter said.

The vehicle was not reported stolen, Carter said.

Briggs and officers from other agencies tried to stop the vehicle, which went the wrong way down a one-way street, failed to stop at two stop signs and was estimated to be going 100 mph at times, Carter said.

Jay Cpl. Jeffrey Fournier put down a spike mat near Gingras Road, near the Canton line on Route 140, flattening the vehicle’s two front tires, Jay Police Chief Richard Caton IV said.

Livermore Falls police officer Troy Reed tracked the vehicle on Campground Road in Livermore Falls and found it abandoned at 1:39 a.m. Monday on Bamford Hill Road in Fayette, Livermore Falls Chief Ernest Steward Jr. said.

Gatcomb is described as 6 feet tall, weighing 190 pounds with blond hair and blue eyes.

Besides Livermore Falls and Jay, he is known to frequent Bath, Fayette and Franklin and Washington counties.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

 

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