LEWISTON — A Readfield man who served prison time as a teenager for attacking a man with an ice chopper was indicted on a slew of charges this week stemming from a dramatic foot chase with police in downtown Lewiston.
Luke Blair, 27, was indicted by the Androscoggin County grand jury Tuesday on a dozen counts, including charges of burglary, terrorizing, assaulting a police officer and aggravated criminal trespass.
On the morning of Jan. 4, police said Blair broke into a pair of apartments on Shawmut Street in Lewiston in an attempt to evade police who were trying to capture him.
At the time, Blair was wanted on charges of felony domestic assault in Kennebec County, police said, and was considered armed and dangerous.
Police said that during the chase, Blair busted his way into a pair of apartments at 34 Shawmut St., sending tenants of the building scurrying to safety.
Police ultimately forced their way into the building, capturing Blair as he tried to escape through a window. Video of the capture went viral after it was posted on the Sun Journal website.
Blair has remained jailed since.
In 2008, Blair was sent to prison for three years after he was convicted of striking a man so hard with an ice chopper that the tool became partially embedded in the man’s skull.
At the time of the 2007 attack, Blair was just two days shy of 18 years old. He was originally charged with attempted murder in that case, but ultimately entered a deal in which he agreed to plead guilty to elevated aggravated assault.
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