An Ellsworth man has been sentenced to two years in prison for driving over another man whose truck he’d taken, an incident that culminated when police got him out of the vehicle and used a stun gun to subdue him.
Matthew C. Milliken, 37, was indicted on nearly a dozen charges stemming from the 2022 incident, including kidnapping, robbery and aggravated assault. Six of the charges later were dismissed as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
He recently pleaded guilty to two charges of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, two charges of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, and a single charge of theft by unauthorized use.
He received an overall sentence last week of 3 1/2 years in prison for reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, with all but two years suspended. He received concurrent sentences of two years on three of the other charges, and of nine months on the theft charge.
Milliken’s arrest on March 8, 2022, came after he allegedly used a knife to threaten two other people who were with him in a pickup truck outside the Dairy Queen in Ellsworth, according to police. The driver then got out of the truck while it was still moving, but Milliken drove the vehicle over the man’s leg as he fled, police said. The woman who also was in the truck couldn’t escape before Milliken sped off.
Hancock County sheriff’s deputies were called to assist Ellsworth police and happened upon the truck downtown on Water Street. The truck continued another block before stopping outside Ellsworth City Hall, at which point the woman got out and ran away, police said.
Milliken initially complied with the deputies’ orders and got out of the truck, but he then lunged at an officer. Another deputy shot him with a stun gun, incapacitating him and leading to his arrest.
The man suffered a broken leg after Milliken ran over it, and he couldn’t work for a month, while the woman in the truck was unharmed, according to court documents.
