Two men investigated after leading man on high-speed chase

PITTSFIELD – Two men were under investigation Friday afternoon after leading a man who thought he had interrupted a burglary on a high-speed chase through three counties.

The chase began about 12:45 p.m. in Somerset County, traveled through Waldo County, reversed itself in Kennebec County, came back through Waldo County and finally was terminated back in Somerset County at an Interstate 95 rest area in Pittsfield.

The men, whom police did not identify except to say they were adult males, were interviewed by Trooper Bernard Brunette of the Maine State Police after they stopped the Mercury Mystique they were operating at the northbound Pittsfield rest area.

Since the person doing the chasing was a private citizen, Brunette said, the entire situation remains under investigation.

The incident began when a Palmyra resident spotted two men allegedly breaking into a neighbor’s home on Gee Road, just off U.S. Route 2 in Palmyra.

The suspected burglars fled when approached by the man, who then followed them – at speeds reportedly more than 100 mph at times – while keeping the state police alerted by his cell phone.

The chase crossed Route 2 onto Madawaska Road and then entered Pittsfield going south. The vehicles crossed Waverly Avenue onto Hartland Avenue and again headed north. They took Spring Road in Palmyra to backtrack south toward Pittsfield and got onto Interstate 95 in Pittsfield, headed south.

Police began converging on the area and blocking exits, but before the Clinton exit could be shut down, the cars exited at Clinton and immediately got back on the interstate, this time headed north again.

At the Pittsfield rest area, about mile marker 147, both vehicles pulled into the rest area where the man chasing the suspects had a conversation with them until Trooper Jeff Beach and Clinton Officer Jeremy Buzzell arrived.

Once Brunette got to the scene, the investigation continued.

“This is a lot more complicated that it looks,” he said, adding that it was not a burglary investigation.

Brunette said a series of charges are likely to be lodged against the men, but that information was not available Friday.