FARMINGTON — A 16-year-old Canadian boy denied Tuesday that he drove a stolen car into Maine on Monday night, rammed a Border Patrol vehicle and led police on a wild chase down Route 27 to Kingfield.
Zachary Wittke of Eganville, Ontario, entered denials in Juvenile Court to charges of eluding an officer, passing a roadblock, aggravated criminal mischief and unauthorized use of a vehicle. The charges were submitted by juvenile petition.
Wittke and a 13-year-old girl, also from Canada, were injured when they abandoned a stolen truck and jumped over a guardrail down a rocky embankment into the Carrabassett River in Kingfield, police said. They had ditched the first stolen vehicle and took a pickup truck in Kingfield that later ran over two spike mats on Route 27.
The girl, who is from Pembroke, Ontario, was at Maine Medical Center in Portland with possible internal injuries, said Stephen McCausland, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman.
Wittke wore a soft neck brace and a hospital gown Tuesday as he sat beside defense lawyer Linda Sparks and answered questions from Judge Susan Oram in the courtroom.
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Robbins asked that Wittke be held pending trial. He is scheduled to appear at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 30 in Juvenile Court in Farmington.
Robbins said Wittke is on probation in Canada and has warrants out for his arrest in that country.
Sparks said Wittke would not protest the detention, but she asked that the court be open to allowing a lawyer that will be appointed to represent him to revisit the issue.
Wittke will be held at Mountain View Youth Development Center in Charleston.
The ordeal began when a stolen car burst through the border crossing at Coburn Gore in northern Franklin County. U.S. Border Patrol agents tried to stop the vehicle, but it kept going south on Route 27 with speeds that reached more than 100 mph, McCausland said.
A Border Patrol agent fired shots at the fleeing car after it rammed a Border Patrol vehicle near the village of Stratton in Eustis, McCausland said.
Roadblocks had been set up at all of the major routes, Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols Sr. said.
McCausland said the teens abandoned the car along Depot Street in Kingfield and stole the pickup from Riverside Street, a short distance away.
According to a police affidavit filed with the court by Maine State Police Trooper Mathew Casavant, State Police Lt. Aaron Hayden was driving north on Route 27 in New Portland when he saw a truck heading north.
Hayden tried to stop the truck, but it continued. He followed it into Kingfield with his lights and siren on. Speeds reached about 65 mph. Hayden notified other police officers north of the location to assist.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department set up a roadblock and deployed a spike mat, but the truck ran over the mat and continued north, according to the affidavit.
The truck passed another roadblock and drove over a second set of spike mats, Casavant wrote. The truck continued north at speeds ranging from 30 to 40 mph, with one or more tires going flat.
The vehicle was operating in an erratic manner and it appeared the driver was having a difficult time maintaining control of the truck, according to the affidavit.
Fearing for the safety of other motorists and after other options failed, Casavant was authorized to try to stop the vehicle with his cruiser. He said he tried the maneuver twice and eventually the truck struck the guardrail.
It stopped just north of the Department of Transportation shed on Route 27 and the teenagers fled the truck. They jumped the guardrail and ended up in the river where they were taken into custody, the trooper wrote.
The stolen truck appeared to be a total loss, Casavant wrote.
The teens’ crime spree started over the weekend in a vehicle stolen in Ontario. They were chased by Canadian police and the stolen vehicle was found abandoned in Sherbrooke, Quebec, McCausland said.
In addition to Maine State Police, Border Patrol and Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies, Carrabassett Valley police and the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department assisted in the chase.
The Office of the Attorney General sent investigators to the scene because of the shots fired at the fleeing car, McCausland said. Neither teen was injured in the shooting.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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