A Caribou police officer was justified when he shot at a suspect trying to avoid arrest outside a store last June.
That’s the conclusion of investigators with the Maine attorney general’s office, which on Friday released their findings in Officer Douglas Bell’s use of deadly force against 38-year-old Marc Beaulieu of Presque Isle.
Early in the morning of June 19, 2024, Bell was searching for Beaulieu, who was wanted for allegedly leading police on a high-speed chase in a stolen truck, according to the report.
During his search, Bell stopped at First Choice Market and Deli on Sweden Street in Caribou about 5:30 a.m. Inside the clerk at the register gestured to her left and explained that a man had fled into the back of the store when Bell entered.
As he got a cup of coffee, Bell saw a man matching Beaulieu’s description. Bell left the store and called dispatch to say he found Beaulieu and asked for backup, investigators wrote.
When he entered the store again, Bell drew his stun gun and ordered Beaulieu to get down onto the floor, and Beaulieu complied.
Bell placed his stun gun on the floor next to Beaulieu and fastened a handcuff to his left hand. When Bell tried to secure his right hand, Beaulieu allegedly tried to grab the stun gun, but Bell grabbed it and then tried unsuccessfully to subdue the man with it, according to investigators.
Beaulieu then allegedly fled the store with the handcuffs dangling from his left hand and got into a Polaris Ranger UTV side-by-side. Bell followed him outside and got into the path of the UTV and drew his handgun.
Bell told investigators that he was concerned that Beaulieu had already resisted arrest, attempted to grab the stun gun and could use the handcuffs as a weapon. And when Beaulieu shifted the UTV into gear and began to accelerate, Bell feared that Beaulieu would run him down, according to the report.
Bell dived to the side and fired at Beaulieu, grazing his thigh as the man fled down Sweden Street in the breakdown lane, investigators wrote. Surveillance and body camera footage showed Beaulieu accelerating and nearly hitting the officer, according to the report.
Police later found Beaulieu on Colby Siding Road in Woodland, where he fled from officers into the woods before being arrested a short time later.
Since then, an Aroostook County grand jury has indicted Beaulieu on charges of attempted murder, theft by unauthorized taking, eluding an officer, criminal speeding, operating without a license, refusing to submit to arrest, domestic violence assault, obstruction of the report of a crime or injury, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, escape, aggravated assault, assault on an officer and violation of his conditions of release.
Investigators concluded that Bell “reasonably believed” Beaulieu posed an “imminent threat of bodily harm” and appeared ready to use deadly force to avoid Bell arresting him.
“All the facts and circumstances point to the conclusion that Officer Bell reasonably believed he was acting in self-defense at the time he used deadly force,” investigators wrote.
