BAR HARBOR – A local man evaded police, for a few hours anyway, when he escaped through a window at the police station after being arrested.

Police Officer Tim Bland said Wednesday that Devin Clark, 20, was arrested Monday evening after another police officer stopped his vehicle on Route 102 near the head of Mount Desert Island. Clark tested positive for drug use and was brought back to the station on a charge of violating his bail, Bland said.

Around 8:30 p.m., before he could be taken to Hancock County Jail in Ellsworth, Clark opened a window in the station’s first-floor booking room and ran off before police could grab him, Bland said.

“We saw him go out the window,” he said.

Police gave chase and received multiple tips from people who claimed to have seen Clark running through downtown Bar Harbor, according to Bland. Officers did not see him again until around 1 a.m. Tuesday, after they had been tipped off that he was at a house in the village of Town Hill.

Police went to the house on Route 102 and found Clark there, Bland said.

“There was a struggle,” the officer said, but no one was injured.

Bland declined to comment on how Clark may have gotten from downtown Bar Harbor to Town Hill, which is several miles away. He said certain aspects of the case are still under investigation.

Bland said Clark pleaded guilty Wednesday in Ellsworth District Court to violating his bail and escape. He is serving a five-day sentence at Hancock County Jail, he said.

Clark’s escape was the second time in two years that an area resident has crawled out a window in a booking room at the Bar Harbor police station and run away after being arrested.

In October 2006, William Sanford, 23, ran away from police after they had arrested him and brought him to the station on charges of operating a motor vehicle after suspension and violating bail conditions. He, too, eventually was caught, according to Police Chief Nate Young.

Young said Wednesday that the window has not been kept locked shut because police thought it had to be kept accessible for egress in the event of a fire. He said he has clarified that issue with Bar Harbor Fire Chief David Rand and determined that the window does not have to be kept unblocked and unlocked.

“The window will be secured,” Young said.

btrotter@bangordailynews.net

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