FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — Police have now formally charged the Caribou man who allegedly led four law enforcement agencies on a high speed chase through Fort Fairfield on April 22.
Fort Fairfield police charged Sean Lee, 32 of Caribou, with driving to endanger, eluding an officer, reckless conduct and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, according to officer Ed Dubie, who is handling the case.
Before he was arrested, Lee was wanted on five outstanding warrants, including failure to appear in court for a theft charge and a warrant for allegedly violating probation, Dubie said Monday.
The high speed chase began on Sunday, April 22, when Dubie encountered Lee in the parking lot of Rite Aid in Fort Fairfield, where Lee was operating a Chevy Malibu allegedly stolen from a town resident.
When Dubie attempted to arrest him, Lee backed up the stolen car and nearly struck the officer and the patrol car, according to a press release issued last week by the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office.
Dubie and other Fort Fairfield officers first pursued Lee for about five miles and called on other law enforcement agencies, including deputies from the sheriff’s office and agents from the U.S. Border Patrol.
After Fort Fairfield police stopped their pursuit due to safety concerns, deputies met the speeding vehicle on the Dorsey Road south of downtown Fort Fairfield.
Lee told a sheriff’s office dispatcher over the phone “that he was armed and was not going to surrender to officers peacefully,” according to the sheriff’s office release. In the course of the chase, Lee also attempted to force a Caribou police cruiser off the road.
The chase ended when a Border Patrol agent used a tactical maneuver with his vehicle to stop Lee about two miles from where it had begun.
The stolen vehicle stopped near Deputy Sheriff Roy Guidry, who ordered Lee to show his hands and exit the vehicle, according to police. When Lee refused and started to reach between his legs, Guidry fired a bean bag that broke the vehicle’s side window and struck Lee.
Lee then was taken into custody and transported to The Aroostook Medical Center in Presque Isle to be treated for injuries that police said were not life threatening.
