SKOWHEGAN — A man who ran off after police tried to stop his vehicle in Skowhegan on Saturday was eventually caught, arrested and charged with refusing to stop for an officer, refusing to submit to arrest or detention and operating after habitual offender revocation with priors, according to police.
Derek Knowles Submitted photo
Derek Knowles, 41, of Skowhegan, was driving south on North Avenue just before 9:30 a.m. in a white, 2008 Ford Fusion, when Skowhegan police Sgt. Jacob Pierce noticed the vehicle he was driving was not inspected, had a cracked windshield and its registration had expired, Skowhegan police Chief David Bucknam said in a phone interview.
Pierce activated the lights on his cruiser, but the vehicle did not stop, nor did it stop when he activated the siren, according to Bucknam. The car pulled over and slowly kept moving, turned onto Lawton Street and into a credit union parking lot when Pierce notified other area law enforcement that the vehicle was refusing to stop, Bucknam said.
He said the Fusion never traveled over 15 mph, though it continued on for three blocks, turned onto Winter Street and then stopped on the side of the street and the operator got out of the car.
“Sgt. Pierce assumed the chase on foot with him, and the driver jumped over a fence,” he said.
Pierce circled back to the Fusion and five or six people there told him where the driver had headed on foot, Bucknam said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Ron Blodgett of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department found the man on Maple Street and detained him, according to Bucknam.
A male passenger in the Fusion was detained but later released without charges, he said. Police called an animal control officer for a pit bull terrier that was in the car, according to Bucknam.
Knowles was taken to Somerset County Jail in Madison, Bucknam said. A jail spokesman said Saturday afternoon that bail for Knowles was set at $2,500 and he was expected to be arraigned via video Monday in Skowhegan District Court.
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