Bangor man charged in motorcycle chase

BANGOR – Police have charged a Bangor man with eluding a police officer in connection with a high-speed chase last Friday that ended when two police cruisers collided, injuring three officers.

Eric Curtis, 22, turned himself in on Monday after investigators identified him as the motorcyclist who had fled the scene after the crash, Chief Deputy Troy Morton of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday. Authorities contacted him by telephone, and Curtis turned himself in late Monday afternoon.

Authorities charged Curtis with eluding a police officer, although the case will be forwarded to the Penobscot County District Attorney’s Office for review and possible additional charges, Morton said.

The chase began at 10:50 p.m. Friday on Route 15 along the “flats” about two miles from the Bucksport town line and ended about eight miles away, near the north gate of the International Paper Co. mill, Morton said.

One of the three officers injured in the crash, Sean Emery, a part-time Orrington deputy with the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office, was listed in fair condition Wednesday at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where he was being treated for a serious leg injury, according to officials.

Tim Dearing, also a part-time Orrington deputy, and Bucksport police Officer Matt Cyr were both treated for injuries but are back to work, officials from both agencies said Wednesday.

Emery and Dearing, who are also full-time corrections officers at the Penobscot County Jail, were in a cruiser pursuing Curtis for what Morton said was an “extremely high rate of speed.”

Just how fast Curtis was going is under investigation, and Morton said investigators still haven’t spoken to Emery.

Cyr was coming from the south to assist with the chase when he spotted the motorcycle, according to police. The officer was turning his vehicle near the gate when his cruiser was struck on the passenger side by the deputies’ cruiser.

The sheriff’s office and Bucksport police are investigating the chase. The accident involving the two cruisers is being investigated by the Maine State Police, which had accident reconstructionists at the scene last week.