LEWISTON – Police and others expressed outrage Friday after Norman Thompson was freed from jail two days after he was captured following a weeklong manhunt.

The 37-year-old Lewiston man was released after Deputy District Attorney Craig Turner said he was not familiar with all the facts in the case and a Superior Court judge declined to set bail.

The reaction from police and family members was immediate.

“Absurd. It’s absolutely absurd,” said Michael Bussiere, deputy chief of the Lewiston Police Department. “Mr. Thompson is the very definition of a flight risk. He has already violated bail. You have to be living in a cave to not know the facts of this case.”

Thompson was freed after promising to appear in court on charges that he stole cars and violated bail set after previous arrests. By late Friday afternoon, he was out of jail and his whereabouts were unknown.

Thompson’s older brother was also stunned. Richard Wilbur described his brother as a crack addict who will not cease criminal behavior once freed. Wilbur pointed out that Thompson has already been released on personal recognizance – which amounts to a promise to appear in court at a later date – twice in recent weeks.

“Wow. That they would even consider releasing him astonishes me,” Wilbur said. “He’s getting crazy. A third-floor jump? What’s next?”

Thompson was captured Wednesday after leaping from a third-floor balcony in an attempt to flee from police chasing him. He was tackled by a Sun Journal photographer who had been covering the attempted arrest from the ground.

“A citizen does a good deed like that,” said Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Deputy Tom Slivinski, “and this is the thanks he gets.”

In an earlier interview, Wilbur said his brother has not stopped using crack cocaine and has become increasingly unstable. He blamed the court system for failing to lock up Thompson even after repeated arrests.

“He should never have been released on personal recognizance in the first place,” Wilbur said. “The more crack he does, the more he steals. That’s painfully obvious.”

Thompson is wanted for questioning by several area police departments on charges that he stole cars, led police on chases, broke into homes and stole a number of items.

“He’s hurting a lot of innocent people,” Wilbur said. “This has got my mother going up and down, up and down. She would rather see him stay in jail to cool off.”

In court Friday, Thompson’s attorney, Donald Hornblower, asked that his client be released on personal recognizance.

Police said no argument was raised by the District Attorney’s Office, and Justice Joyce Wheeler ordered Thompson released.

“Welcome to the world of law enforcement. We have to deal with this all the time because of somebody who drops the ball,” Bussiere said. “These are the reasons that people in law enforcement get frustrated.”

District Attorney Norm Croteau was not in the courtroom during the hearing and said he did not know exactly what transpired. However, he pointed out that it is not uncommon for people accused of nonviolent crime to be released on personal recognizance.

“I’m sure the judge considered all the factors when she made her decision,” Croteau said.

He also said the dramatic nature of Thompson’s arrest, and the national media attention it garnered would not have been a factor in the bail decision. The arrest of Thompson was picked up by television, radio and Internet news outlets across the country and on Friday was featured on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America.”

Police, however, say the media flurry about the case is irrelevant to their anger over the release of Thompson. They consider him a danger because of the frequency with which he is arrested and then released.

Setting him free, they said, will require them to search for him one more time as he is sought in the numerous thefts, chases and burglaries in which he is a suspect. Most officers who commented on the case agreed with Bussiere that the failure of the DA’s Office to push for high bail constituted a grave misstep on the part of the prosecutor.

“Why isn’t the District Attorney’s Office subject to internal investigation the way a police officer would be?” asked Slivinski.

Police said they are concerned that Thompson was on the loose Friday night.

According to police reports, Thompson screamed racial and sexual slurs at the officers who took him to the emergency room after he jumped from the third-floor balcony to the roof of a garage. And officers from several departments described Thompson as a “runner,” who has fled or attempted to flee every time they have tried to arrest him. Last week, he escaped from Lewiston police during a foot chase but was arrested the next day.

“This guy is just not going to go back to court,” said Bussiere, the deputy police chief. “And we know it.”