A man accused of crashing into multiple vehicles and leading police on a chase throughout Bangor said he was fleeing from people he thought were chasing him.
Michael McDarby, 54, of Bangor had his first court appearance Friday afternoon in Penobscot County after he allegedly crashed into multiple vehicles, led police on chases and crashed into a patrol car.
He is charged with one felony count each of eluding an officer and aggravated assault. He is also charged with one misdemeanor count each of driving to endanger, refusing to submit to arrest and leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage. He is also accused of violation of conditions of release and probation violation.
Bangor police were at Union and Columbia streets for an unrelated reason at 8 a.m. Thursday when they heard squealing tires and noises that sounded like a car crash, the report from Bangor police officer Tyler Stockwell said. The other officer said he saw a red car speed through the intersection of Union and Main toward downtown.
After more sounds of a car engine revving and tires squealing, the same red car then drove past the officers on Union Street, Stockwell’s report said.
The rear bumper on the red Subaru Impreza was “half ripped off and blowing in the wind,” the report said.
McDarby had been shot in the chest and face in New Jersey a few years ago and the shooter was never caught, his attorney Deven Soondar said. McDarby thought people were chasing him Thursday morning, Soondar said.
McDarby crossed over the centerline and drove in the wrong lane up the Union Street hill, Stockwell’s report said. Stockwell got into his cruiser and attempted to catch up with McDarby but did not reach him before he disappeared, the report said.
As Stockwell drove back toward downtown Bangor, he saw McDarby pull off a side street and onto Main Street, the report said.
McDarby allegedly drove about 50 mph through downtown Bangor shortly after 8 a.m. and at one point drove up onto a sidewalk, according to the police report. He drove in loops throughout the downtown area before he made a U-turn near the intersection of Main and May streets and drove straight into a Bangor police cruiser, the report said.
Stockwell boxed McDarby in with his cruiser, the report said. Officers told McDarby to show his hands and step out of the vehicle, but he refused, the report said. Eventually police pulled McDarby out of the vehicle and onto the ground. He then pulled his arms into his body so police could not put handcuffs on, the report said.
Stockwell tried to grab McDarby’s arm and pull him onto his stomach, but was unable to make him roll over, the report said.
Stockwell then punched McDarby twice on his right cheek, making McDarby turn his head and giving Stockwell the opportunity to roll McDarby onto his stomach, the report said. McDarby was then handcuffed.
McDarby’s bottom lip was bleeding and an ambulance crew evaluated him after he did not respond to Stockwell when the officer asked if he was okay, according to the report. Once McDarby was taken back to the station, officers could not do a breath test for intoxicants because there was blood in his mouth, the report said.
McDarby refused to participate in a drug recognition evaluation and refused to give a blood sample, the report said.
Police originally said McDarby would be charged with operating under the influence but that charge was dropped because there were no tests done, Assistant District Attorney Mercedes Gurney said in court Friday.
McDarby hit two vehicles on Main Street and also damaged a business on Mt. Hope Avenue before the police chase, Stockwell said.
It is the “most unusual and unhappy factual scenario,” Judge Bruce Mallonee said while deciding bail for McDarby.
Mallonee granted McDarby a $1,000 bail in Penobscot County. However, he is held without bail for the alleged probation violations.
McDarby is on probation for domestic violence assault in Somerset County, Bangor police said previously.
