A Boothbay man was arrested Friday after allegedly leading police on a wild chase from Richmond to Gardiner that started when he drove 55 mph over the speed limit and backed into a police cruise.

The chase ended when two officers forced his pickup truck to a halt on Route 24, at which point he took a brief dip in the Kennebec River, police said.

No one was injured, but four police cruisers were damaged in the pursuit of Daniel Lewis, 25, who returned to shore and surrendered to authorities around 10:15 a.m.

The chase started on U.S. Route 201 in Richmond — also called Brunswick Road — when a local police officer stopped Lewis for allegedly driving 100 mph in a 45 mph zone, said Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety.

According to McCausland, Lewis then allegedly backed into the Richmond police officer’s cruiser, before continuing to drive on U.S. Route 201 and leading police into Gardiner.

The chase continued onto Route 24. Eventually, Maine State Police troopers stopped Lewis’ vehicle using a special technique that involves clipping the back of a vehicle to spin it out of control, McCausland said. But Lewis continued his escape on foot, briefly going into the Kennebec River before he was arrested.

Lewis was arrested on multiple charges, but McCausland did not immediately know what they were.

A call to Richmond Police Chief Scott MacMaster was not immediately returned on Friday afternoon.

This story will be updated.

Charles Eichacker — 621-5642

ceichacker@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @ceichacker

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