GREENE, Maine — A Lewiston man was released on $2,500 bail from Androscoggin County Jail on Saturday, one day after leading police on a chase that ended with the trooper ramming the man’s vehicle into a ditch.
“We terminated the chase,” Trooper Eric Paquette said Saturday.
He had found Brian Bouvier, 48, slumped over the wheel of his 1984 Chevrolet at about 4 p.m. Friday.
Police had been called after someone in Greene reported a suspicious person parked on the side of Meadow Hill Road.
When Paquette arrived, Bouvier was sleeping.
The trooper woke Bouvier, talked with him and went back to the cruiser. When the trooper returned to Bouvier a few minutes later, Paquette asked him to step out of the car.
“I started to put him through the field sobriety test,” Paquette said.
Instead of standing up as directed, Bouvier peeled away, Maine State Police Sgt. Andre Paradis said. Paquette reached into the car to stop Bouvier and was “half-dragged” for a short distance before Paquette let go.
The trooper quickly got to his feet and followed in his cruiser.
The chase lasted five or six minutes and hit speeds of 70 mph. Paquette chased Bouvier from Meadow Hill Road to North River Road and onto Allen Pond Road.
Bouvier’s car was “all over the road,” Paradis said.
During the chase, Bouvier wandered into the opposite travel lane and struck a snowbank. As he approached Route 202, then busy with commuter traffic, police worried that he could cause a catastrophic crash.
A supervisor gave Paquette permission to ram Bouvier’s car, Paradis said.
Near the intersection of Allen Pond Road and Quaker Ridge Road, Paquette pushed Bouvier’s car into a ditch. The chase ended.
Bouvier was taken to St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston where he was treated for bumps suffered in the crash and then to the Androscoggin County Jail.
He was arrested and charged with eluding a police officer, operating under the influence, aggravated reckless conduct and refusal to submit to arrest and detention.
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why do they bother to run? where do they think they’re going to go?…..
especially in an “84 Chevy.
Now if that would of been a “55” Chevy…
Was it a Camaro IROC…which in this case would stand for “Intoxicated Redneck Out Cruising”.
Was he coming home from a toga party? (photo)
Scary thought.
Even scarier was the Mass legislature, after a long day (midnite?), sent out for pizza and instructed their page boys to go to their offices and raid their private bars. By 3am they were yelling ‘TOGA TOGA’ on the senate floor! This was 10-15 years ago, no reports of a repeat and they did have a hard day, but still…. :)
I believe that to be a gel cold pack for this big bad boy’s injured shoulder.
Ohh! Did he bump his wittle noggin AND hurt his poor shoulder? GOOD! :)
Is that Jackie O’s nephew Brian Bouvier? Of the Hamptons Bouviers?
Marge (Bouvier) Simpson
just ram the car, Bruno! Ok, permission to did it again??? Go for it!
and taxpayers pay for all of this. The police car and to house this guy.
I’d rather have to use taxpayer’s dollars for a new cruiser, than to have him go into a busy street and possibly kill someone while driving drunk. Just my thought though…
1st time is only 48 hours.. don’t mention any priors, but he was arrested a few weeks ago on something else.
Pretty risky maneuver, Trooper. Nice job.
Ah, yes! The good old PIT maneuver (Pursuit Intervention Technique) that’s so much fun to watch on ‘Cops’!
What a sad excuse for a man. Who do you suppose paid his Med. bills? MaineCare probably….Now he’s in jail with new duds, a warm place to sleep and 3 meals a day. What a guy….
smarter than us, where paying for everything for him!
Bail was set way too low.
He definitely had a blow out, cause he has a tire patch on his head !
and a spare tire over his shoulder.
What a winner!
Cue the typical comments from self-righteous locals expressing derision and outrage…
(rolling my eyes)
my point is the BDN should not censor comments in favor of the police and the police story they are too quick to try people in the media as if it is fact
typical father …”my son does no wrong”…you of course enabled your son to the way he is today.
he is a good man, he was sleeping doing nothing wrong you people judge him by the age of the car he drove and praise the cope for excessive force under the guise of safety !!! absolutely wrong
He should have rammed the driver’s door… Real Hard!!
And, as usual, they let the SCUMBAG BAIL!!
Maybe the apple didn’t fall far from the tree
you mean you right ? judge not lest you be judged
Piece of crap put trooper and everyone on road in danger.
Well Trooper kinda dumb trying to stop a 2500 pound car! Cops have a lot of power but not that much lol
Here’s the headline for this story in a real newspaper:
“Cowboy cop lassos bad guy but costs taxpayers”
They knew who this guy is, so why not wait till he stops and then arrest him? I’m real tired of paying for police cars (which partial cost comes from gas tax money)
How about thanks to Trooper Paquette the headline doesn’t read “Mother and 2 children killed in crash by drink driver fleeing police.” Did you miss the part of article where it was stated that the suspect crossed into the oncoming lane and hit a snowbank as he was approaching a busy intersection? This officer put his own safety and well being at risk in an effort to prevent a worse accident. If YOUR wife and kids had been driving nearby, you might feel differently about what the costs are. A cruiser can be replaced. A human life cannot.
Drunks speed up when being chased. Most cops join up for the action. Speed lights, power every teenagers dream.
Please DON’T do me any favors!
Hes 48 years old, why would he give 2 hoots about what he does its obvious he happy about his dream vacation in Maine
Frank Galikanokus from Super Troopers
If the smart Maine criminal justice consumer had a volunteer civilian review police board with subpoena powers you would have civilian control over the criminal justice system you fund and own.
The smart consumer would have set standards in place for high speed chases and would have the ability to discipline anyone including firing for violations.
http://www.cji.edu/papers/Police%20Pursuits.pdf
[PDF] Police Pursuits: Are No-Pursuit Policies The Answer
Police Pursuit and High-Speed Driving Lawsuits
By Andrew G. Cooley, Attorney at Law, and Brock Gavery, Attorney
at Law, Keating Bucklin & McCormack, Inc., P.S., Seattle,
Washington
http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=1018&issue_id=102006
High speed police chases ‘have led to 200 deaths in six years’ warns coroner
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/3550535/High-speed-police-chases-have-led-to-200-deaths-in-six-years-warns-coroner.html
The BDN censored my post for calling the drunk driver an !diot.
Brian is a good man people he is a hard worker and has a son and ex wife respect him and remember those who take your rights in the name of safety