A Norridgewock man was charged Sunday with stealing a vehicle at a Waterville convenience store and then leading police on a chase up and down the highway.
Arrested in connection with the incident was Lawrence Knowles, 57, according to a news release from Maine State Police spokesperson Shannon Moss.
Knowles was charged with a Class B count of aggravated reckless conduct; eluding an officer, Class C; passing a roadblock, Class C; falsifying physical evidence, Class D; leaving the scene of a property damage crash, Class E; driving to endanger, Class E; and operating after suspension, a civil offense.
Police first received a call around 5 a.m. Sunday that a red 2011 Chevrolet Impala had been stolen at the Cumberland Farms convenience store on College Avenue in Waterville.
Using video surveillance footage, police said they identified Knowles as the suspect but could not immediately find the stolen car, according to Moss. State Police troopers received reports around 1 p.m. of a man pulled over near mile-marker 117 south on Interstate 95 in Sidney. Motorists reported seeing a man “passed out” in the front seat, Moss said, and the car matched the description of the stolen vehicle from Waterville.
When state police troopers arrived, the suspect took off driving south on I-95. Near mile 114, troopers used a “precision immobilization technique,” but the vehicle did not stop, Moss said. Instead, the suspect turned around and sped off north on I-95 using the south lanes.
“Troopers avoided pursuing the vehicle the wrong way, going northbound to position themselves to stop the offending vehicle,” Moss said, adding that members of the Maine Warden Service and police from Waterville, Fairfield and Clinton assisted in slowing southbound traffic and setting up a roadblock.
The vehicle got off the interstate in Fairfield and was soon found by police on Howe Road. Knowles was taken into custody without incident and brought to the Kennebec County jail in Augusta.
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