Guilford man arrested after high-speed chase Fleeing car crashes into vehicle in Sangerville

SANGERVILLE – A Guilford man who allegedly led police on a high-speed chase through Sangerville on Friday – and then bolted after his car crashed into another vehicle – is behind bars.

Zane Harmon, 21, was arrested and charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants, passing a roadblock, eluding an officer, driving to endanger, criminal speeding, leaving the scene of an accident, and violation of conditions of his license. His bail was set at $1,500 cash.

Gary Grant, 46, his wife, Sheila, 46, and the couple’s daughter, Rebecca, 12, all of Parkman, escaped injury after Harmon struck their vehicle at about 6:30 p.m. at the intersection of Routes 23 and 15, police said. Their 2004 Chrysler Sebring was demolished.

That no one was seriously hurt in the incident amazed police.

“It was very serious,” investigator Allen Emerson of the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department said Saturday of the chase.

What started the chain of events was a phone call from Dexter police, who told the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department they were searching for a vehicle in connection with a domestic assault that occurred earlier.

Cpl. Alan Grinnell of the Dexter Police Department told the sheriff’s department he thought the vehicle was headed toward Sangerville on Route 23.

Moving to intercept the vehicle, Emerson observed an oncoming vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed and clocked it doing 92 mph on Route 23. The car, which was not the same vehicle Dexter police were after, passed two other northbound vehicles, nearly forcing one of them off the road, according to Emerson.

When the vehicle failed to stop for Emerson, the officer radioed ahead to Sheriff’s Deputy David Cotta, who placed his cruiser in the middle of the road near the Sangerville post office to stop the vehicle.

Instead of stopping, Harmon maneuvered around Cotta’s cruiser and continued at speeds of up to 100 mph through town until he reached the intersection of Routes 15 and 23, Emerson said.

It was there that the driver’s car collided into the rear end of the Grant family’s vehicle and forced it make a 180-degree spin in the road.

Harmon’s 1994 Mazda, which is registered to Leandra Ames of Guilford, ended in a ditch and both Harmon and his passenger bolted from the vehicle, police said. The men fled in different directions into wooded areas.

Emerson captured Harmon a few minutes later near the Piscataquis Country Club.

Police searched for several hours more for the passenger but failed to find him. He is wanted for questioning, Emerson said.

Guilford and Sangerville firefighters assisted the sheriff’s department after the crash and search.