PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A Presque Isle man led police Sunday on a high-speed chase that reached speeds of more than 100 miles per hour before he was stopped and arrested, according to the Maine State Police.
At 8 a.m. Sunday, the Presque Isle Police Department received a complaint that someone stole gas and goods from a store on Main Street. Police identified George Peaslee, 38, of Presque Isle as a suspect in the theft, according to a press release issued Sunday afternoon by MSP Sgt. Jeffrey Clark.
While searching for Peaslee at 9:10 a.m., officers with the PIPD observed him operating a 2010 Ford Taurus on Parsons Street. The local officers initiated a traffic stop of the vehicle, with the assistance of Clark and Trooper Andrew Levesque.
During the stop, Peaslee refused to exit the Taurus and instead drove off, Clark reported. Clark and Levesque pursued Peaslee’s vehicle, which Peaslee was driving in a “reckless and dangerous manner with speeds reaching more than 100 mph at times,” according to the MSP press release.
Clark and Levesque followed Peaslee to Caribou, where officers from the Caribou Police Department set up a roadblock and laid down a spike mat near the Caribou Motor Inn on Route 1. Peaslee did not stop for the road block and drove over the spike mat, causing three of the tires on his vehicle to deflate, Clark reported. Despite the damaged tires, Peaslee continued to drive the Taurus onto South Main Street in Caribou, where Levesque conducted a maneuver with his cruiser that finally immobilized Peaslee’s vehicle, according to the release.
Trooper Andrew Levesque of the Maine State Police used his cruiser in Caribou to safely maneuver an end to a high-speed chase that reached speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour on Sunday morning, according to police.
Maine State Police
Peaslee continued to be uncooperative, according to police, and still refused to exit his vehicle. Officers broke several windows on the Taurus in order to extricate Peaslee and take him into custody. No one was injured as a result of the high speed chase, though Peaslee’s car sustained minor damage and was towed from the scene, according to police. Levesque’s cruiser also received minor damage. Members of the Maine Warden Service also assisted.
Officers with the Presque Isle Police Department charged Peaslee with theft, two counts of violation of conditions of release, and eluding, and refusing to stop for a law enforcement officer.
The Maine State Police also charged Peaslee with eluding, driving to endanger, criminal speed, reckless conduct, refusing to submit to arrest, passing a police roadblock and violation of conditions of release.
Peaslee is currently being held without bail at the Aroostook County Jail.
