A Dexter Police Department Ford Explorer was stolen about 11:30 a.m. Friday. (Dexter Police Department photo)

A man who fled police custody Friday morning in Dexter and stole a police cruiser later led officers on a high-speed chase before crashing, according to a Dover police dispatcher.

The incident began when police say Tyler Tibbetts, 22, stole a fully marked police cruiser. He was last seen on Garland Road in Dexter headed toward Garland.

Tyler Tibbetts

Tibbetts was still in handcuffs when the White Ford Explorer went missing at 11:29 a.m.

The cruiser was found at about 1:15 p.m. abandoned off the Parkman Road in Garland, but Tibbett remained at large.

Shortly after 2 p.m., Police were following a vehicle on a high-speed chase in Dover that resulted in a crash, according to Dover police. The crash was on the Bangor Road, also known as Route 15.

It was not immediately known if Tibbetts or anyone else was injured in the crash.

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Details about the arrest and theft of the cruiser were not immediately available.

According to the State Bureau of Identification, Tibbetts has a criminal record that began in 2013 when he was a juvenile and was found responsible for a burglary and theft by a judge in Dover Foxcroft District Court. He served 18 days, but he later violated his probation and was sent to jail for one year and a month.

Later that year in December, Tibbetts was charged by the Milo police with felony aggravated assault, was found guilty and served six months of an 18-month sentence.

In 2014 Tibbetts also paid restitution for a misdemeanor theft, and served 30 days in jail for resisting arrest.

His record also includes convictions for criminal mischief, another theft charge, violating the conditions of his release.

This story will be updated.


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