BANGOR, Maine — State and Bangor police arrested a 31-year-old man who allegedly carjacked a van Friday afternoon and led police on a high-speed chase before crashing on an interstate on ramp, according to police.
Brian Swett, who is listed as a transient in Penobscot County Jail records, faces a litany of charges including theft, robbery, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, operating without a license, criminal speeding and driving to endanger.
Jail officials said Swett would be held without bail leading up to his court appearance on Monday because he is under a probation hold.
Around 3:25 p.m., police received a call reporting that a woman had been forced from her vehicle while parked on the side of the street outside 262 Harlow St., Bangor police Sgt. Bob Bishop said Friday night.
The woman told police that Swett approached her gold Chrysler van and “told her it was a robbery.” She complied, and Swett drove off with the woman’s dog still in the van.
The victim did not know Swett, Bishop said.
Minutes later, Maine State Police Trooper Kyle Ouellette, who was traveling south on I-95, saw a vehicle matching the description of the stolen van driving in the northbound lane.
Ouellette said he turned around to pursue the van and see if he could identify it as the stolen vehicle. The plates matched those of the van that was taken on Harlow Street.
“As I came in close proximity with the van, it started to operate erratically” and swerve from lane to lane, Ouellette said Friday evening.
Ouellette followed the van when it left the interstate at Exit 193 in Orono and Swett turned left and got back onto I-95 heading southbound. At that point, Ouellette said he turned on his lights and sirens and attempted to stop the vehicle but Swett didn’t stop.
The van continued down the interstate at relatively “normal speeds” between 65 and 75 mph, but it swerved onto the rumble strip several times and the driver threw a plastic soda cup out the window at one point, the trooper said.
As the van approached Bangor, Swett accelerated to nearly 100 mph, but soon came upon a roadblock set up by a Bangor police and a state police vehicle past the Hogan Road on ramp to I-95 south, according to Ouellette.
In an attempt to avoid traffic that had backed up as a result of the roadblock, Swett turned into oncoming traffic that was heading down the on ramp.
The van struck a dark blue Audi and state police Detective Brian Strout ran into the van’s rear, disabling the fleeing vehicle and knocking off its bumper, according to Ouellette.
Swett then submitted to arrest about 3:40 p.m.
Swett invoked his right to remain silent and did not explain to officers why he allegedly stole the van, Ouellette said.
Approximately seven police vehicles were involved in the chase, according to Ouellette.
The dog in the van was not harmed during the carjacking or the chase that followed, Bishop said.
Bishop said that Swett is new to Bangor and police have identified him as a transient.
“This is an extremely unusual crime for us,” Bishop said. “I’m just glad he didn’t kill anybody.”
Police cleared the accident scene around 4:15 p.m.
Listend to this one on the scanner. He hit over 100 MPH on the interstate.
Just lucky that no one was hurt.
who hasnt? its a looooonng drive to houlton, especially when you do it every day.
Some good news here. Good thing I didn’t miss it. The 3 most relevant and informative sentences I have ever read. Yay.
EDIT: This story is now a whole lot different from when I read it. So this is no longer really that relevant. However, rather then delete my posts and create confusion, i decided to leave them.
Yes, because the instant something like this happens, a newspaper should clearly know everything about it instantly. Patience, young padawan.
Patience I have in nearly endless supply. I was merely relating that 1. its hardly news and 2. they should wait to release a story until they have even a marginal amount of information. This “news”, as it is now, is a waste of time, webspace and effort.
Have you seen the internet? No such thing as a waste of webspace! Give them and police time to hash it out, for now, at least the people who are curious about why the interstate onramp was closed (I’m one of them) have a couple answers.
I was one of them too. Went by that on ramp apparently seconds before the van. Glad I got past before traffic became a nightmare and had an answer by the time I got home two hours later. Glad no one was hurt, including the dog.
So go mow the lawn, clean the garage etc. etc. Read a book…
Hey, good for you for not suggesting I do something less meaningful with my time. I didn’t think people read books, anymore. And, Ive so far taken at most 10 minutes of my time reading and making these comments. Yes, that time could be better used, but, I can afford to waste 10 minutes. Cheers.
There’s plenty of waste on the web but there’s webspace aplenty.
Hey, that’s catchy. I like that. Cheers.
O.o
Yeah, I saw that. I saw what you said before you edited it. Love them e-mail notifications. So, Ill re-post your original comment, and then Ill reply to it. Enjoy.
“Wow, you have no idea what a waste of time really is.. I take it you knew the criminal?”
I’m pretty sure I know about wasting time. I’m pretty sure you know zero about me. Am I the only person who doesn’t pretend to know about someone around here? Jesus… I’m also pretty sure you failed to realize that my comment about this being a waste of time was made when it was only 3 sentences long. It was, at that point, a waste of time, as even though it took less than a minute to read it, it contained absolutely no useful information. Like I said (which you might have noticed just a bit down had you looked before you started moving those fingers of yours): A dude crashed. The end. IE: WASTE OF TIME. Maybe you don’t know what a waste of time is.
Now, to address the brilliance at the end… How does that accusation even begin to make a shred of sense, even in your apparently dull world? Where in the name of all things rational did you even start to get that idea? Hmmm… I take it your (family member, relation and/or cat/dog) knows the criminal… Not sure how I reached that conclusion, but, it seems to be appropriate, somehow and it makes just about as much sense as your accusation. Please, spare me the depths of your intellect. I cant recall how many times I have seen people post similar things on this site. Im pretty sure the bangor daily just has a way of bringing out the inner brilliance most people seem to contain.
But, to answer your question: NO, I DID NOT KNOW THE CRIMINAL.
I DID NOT KNOW THERE WAS EVEN A CRIMINAL WHEN I POSTED THOSE COMMENTS.
Try again? Please? I love doing this.
Should the BDN not print this story until this person goes to court, kisses his Mom goodbye and serves his time? That would be the whole story.
If you had paid any attention at all, you’d probably have realized that I posted my original comment quite awhile ago. There was no information at all. It was simply: A dude crashed. The end. They article was only 3 sentences when I posted my comment. Obviously, the article is much longer now and therefore my original comment is completely irrelevant.
Try again to belittle me?
No? Not try again? That really is too bad. I was looking forward to it. You often provide me with such enjoyment, what with your arrogant sense of self-righteousness and your apparent vanity. A pity, really. I’ll see you around I am sure. I’ll just wait for you to post some more brilliance in response to one of my comments that you clearly don’t understand, once again. I haven’t been keeping track, so I am not really sure what number we are on. Regardless, due to the behavioral trends I have seen you exhibit, I’ll only be a few days. In the mean time, should I get you a stool for your intellect, friend?
Appreciated, confusion is never fun. Quite a story here now!
now he is in jail i assume
Yes.Reserving his bed early out of anticiptation “no vacancies”. Cold winter expected.
To whoever the Bangor, State and/or Penobscot County officers were who were chasing the dude…very good job. “No chase” policies leave the criminals…frequently felons…in charge, and that is a horrible way to police when the officer who could and should pursue likely has no idea that a homicide, rape, bank roberry, abduction, burglary or car-jacking was just perpetrated by the unknown and unidentified driver.
This is the second stolen van used for a high speed joy ride in as many days. Do you suppose they are really turbo-charged and we never knew it? Is this Chryslers hidden secret?
The first van stolen had the keys left in it while it was unlocked. The second was taken “by force” in what I assume was a carjacking (vanjacking?). People who think with a criminal mindset take advantage of opportunities as they are presented to them. It does not mean they are great thinkers, because it appears that their best thinking consistently lands them behind bars.
So, they chased a guy over 100 mph over a property crime. And dont give me “he took it by force” stuff either. I guess the state police commander allows his minions to do what they want. glad that got him but what if they killed your family?
Ah yes – The anti police brigade is heard from
Anit police…NOT. trying to hold bullies accountable….yup that is me
Robbery isn’t a property crime. What if THAT was your family. I say, “Go get him boys.” Job well done.
The article has been updated after my comment. I reported nothing of the above and just said the keys were taken. So, I stand corrected…NOW but not before had you read the first report.
What if the guy they were chasing just killed your family and niether they nor you yet knew that?
All i am gonna say on this one, is that my kid is still incarcerated so it AINT HIM
Wow. Just wow.
I can’t believe you took that seriously. Wow. Just wow.
I know this sounds awful shallow but I just have to say, I am SO glad the dog was okay. My heart broke when I read that line, thank you for stating how things ended BDN.
not shallow at all. I was happy to hear the dog and owner it came out ok!
I know, but I just didn’t want people thinking I didn’t care about the public in general. I am glad everyone is safe but when I read that line I ended up skipping right to the end just looking to see if the dog was okay. I knew he had crashed and no one was hurt but until they updated I had no idea a dog was in the van.
“This is an extremely unusual crime for us,” Bishop said. “I’m just glad he didn’t kill anybody.”
Psst, I remember reading press releases by your department to keep vehicles locked because of vehicle thefts, although this was a robbery type of event a car theft is not unusual in your city, a high speed chase, also not unusual, do you guys sleep under a rock?
Carjacking is a VERY unusual crime in this city. Name one other carjacking incident in the past 5-10 years…I can’t think of one.
Oh in some circles, they may refer to it as ” a repo” ….lol
I am sure there will be more to come considering Bangor’s record on crime
Congratualtions Bangor, you’ve finally made it to the big time. Triple homocides. 3 Methadone clinics. Welfare Capitol… It was only a matter of time until you completed the full circle of crime to include carjacking. Bangor, you are no longer a large small town, but have become a small city with all the problems that comes with being a “city”.
It is called summer time. Once the colder months kick in none of this will happen.
Ditto to you CopSmack, those were my thoughts exactly. We just added carjacking to our multiple murders, record breaking drug addiction rates, and the largest DHHS in the state of Maine struggling to keep up with this Welfare capital! Bangor has now officially completely hit the skids. Signs of transients who flock to this town are now everywhere. They are roaming from one end of town to the other. Setting up camp in the library to our city parks. Begging for handouts at all major intersections and shopping plazas.
Thanks BDN for putting it all on the front page for all our summer visitors to see. I don’t know why you couldn’t manage to put the highlights of the successful American Folk festival on the front page. Great weather and good news would’ve pulled some more positive visitors to Bangor this weekend, but instead you wasted valuable space reporting on what our UMO coaches make in a useless article about the cost of athletics. Fast forward to the last sentence in the article and you find the UMO athletic department actually pays for itself. Wasted front page space.
“Transient Mecca”
Nope. Still nothing like a big city. Still not big time. Still just little old Bangor thats had these problems for a long time.
Can you reference these triple homicides you mention?
I hope they fine the car jacker more than they did the woman that owned the van. Not only did she have to pay an impound fee of $135.00 but they charged her another $80 because her van leaked antifreeze on the impound lot or she couldn’t get her van back. This was a single mother who had to borrow money from friends to get her car out of impound. Nice going City of Bangor !!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is just plain disgusting they made her do that!!!
if you know your name please send me a facebook message I will see If there is anything my friends and I can do to assist her. Though her insurance should cover any fees like that.
unless this is hearsay.
This is not just hearsay. She borrowed the money from my daughter and her husband. I don’t want to put anyone’s name out there without their permission and how are you and your friends in a position to help.
They have guns. Didn’t you see his facebook?
haha ohhh devildude… you’re a funny one.
Nothing like that guns and violence or whatnot. I meant in a monetary and political sense perhaps. However like you said nothing I wanted to discuss on a public forum.
Odds are she probably just wants to forget the ordeal and move on but if she wants to press the issue and expose the injustice of having to pay impound fees after being the victim of a carjacking… (because that is just ridiculous). Hopefully her insurance is going to reimburse those costs along with all the damages to her vehicle?
The good thing, is that he is off the streets, at least for awhile. We can only hope its for a long time as we do not want these types on our streets or in our community. How are they getting here as it appears, by the droves ? We need to find out why these people are seeking out, Bangor ? Seems to me that NYC would have more to offer. Maybe we need to offer these people a Grayhound bus ticket before they get established on our local system. At the very least, we need to add up all the expenses and have them pay for it, if they can or bill them, forever. They would always remember.
We read below that:
“I hope they fine the car jacker more than they did the woman that owned the van. Not only did she have to pay an impound fee of $135.00 but they charged her another $80 because her van leaked antifreeze on the impound lot or she couldn’t get her van back.”
This sounds so unlikely that some of us would like to see the documentation substantiating it.
We’d like to know the name of her insurance company and if it covers this kind of thing.
The humble Farmer
Yes it seems unlikely but not out of the question knowing the way bureaucracy works…
If it is true and they are charging that to her hopefully her insurance company will pony up and cover those fees. I would like to see documentation of it to start a petition to get that policy changed. Like add those fees to the fines/restitution the perpetrator has to pay.
There’s that word again…..Transient
They use that to describe people who have lived here for years. An acquaintance of mine got in a spat of trouble awhile back. They said he was a Transient. He had lived here for over a decade and had a Maine license. He was originally born here, but lived in Tennessee for many years. He wasn’t a transient, but, they called him that.
Transient is just a word they use to make people think that “it doesn’t happen here”. Yeah, right. The reason it happens here is because people are delusional and made to believe otherwise.
So yeah, there’s that word again… misinformation.
sound logic. I think a lot of people want to bury their head in the sand about the growing “big city” problems in bangor and/or blame it on transient people from “away”. Hard times make people do more irrational things. Not saying it ever makes crime justified but maybe helps explain it better.
I think as bangor continues to expand as a population and economic center crime will go up. Bangor PD needs to fill those 10 empty spots they have.
Her assailant was lucky she didnt have a .38 or he would be dead now.
Checking the timeline it appearsthis guy got exactly his 15 minutes of fame.