Man who aimed gun at deputy gets prison

BANGOR – A Parkman man was sentenced Friday for threatening a Piscataquis deputy with a gun in June 2006 after the deputy responded to a 911 call.

In June a jury in Piscataquis County found Michael Meyer, 45, guilty of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and of refusing to submit to arrest. He was found not guilty of Class D assault.

In Bangor on Friday, Justice Kevin Cuddy sentenced Meyer to three years with the Department of Corrections with all but 18 months suspended on the criminal threatening charge. He also was placed on two years’ probation. Meyer was sentenced to six months in prison concurrent for refusing to submit to arrest.

“I think the sentence reflects the seriousness of what happened and that pointing a gun at a police officer carries significant consequences,” Piscataquis County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said Monday.

The case began in June 2006 when police received a late-night 911 call from a woman who said she needed an officer at her Route 150 home. Before she could finish her statement, her telephone line went dead, Piscataquis County Deputy Guy Dow said after the incident. When Dow and Deputy Jamie Kane arrived, the woman was standing outside the home.

The woman told the officers that her young children were inside, and she told police she wanted them to remove Meyer, who was in an upstairs room with some firearms. After Kane helped the woman get her children out of the home and under protection, Meyer came outside armed with a shotgun in his hands and a rifle over his shoulder, Dow said. He refused to drop the guns when Dow commanded him to do so and instead pointed the shotgun at Dow.

Dow said Meyer then fled into the woods behind his home. After a standoff of several hours, the man was taken into custody. During a search of the man’s property, police discovered he had set up an ambush location in the front yard with high-powered rifles that were loaded and cocked, Piscataquis County Sheriff John Goggin said after the incident.

For their heroic actions in defusing the situation, Dow and Kane were presented with the Presidential Valor Award from the Maine Sheriff’s Association. Both men were praised for using great restraint during the incident.