Police chase a bucket loader, commandeered by Matthew Newton-Fortin of Auburn and Shawn Demarest of Litchfield, through Lewiston and on the Maine Turnpike last September. The bucket loader was stopped by shooting at its tires near the New Gloucester toll plaza. A state agency investigation into the incident found that Lewiston Police Sgt. Derrick St. Laurent was justified in using deadly force. (WGME photo)
A state agency investigation into the shooting of the tires of a stolen front-end loader commandeered by two teenagers on the Maine Turnpike last September found a Lewiston police officer was justified in using deadly force.
Late in the evening of Sept. 11, 2016, two 14-year-old male residents ran away from a juvenile group home in Litchfield. State Police troopers searched the area until shortly after midnight. A statewide police broadcast reported the boys as runaways.
The teens left a trail of wreckage in their wake as they drove the heavy machinery from West Gardiner to New Gloucester.
They were charged with more than a dozen crimes in Kennebec and Androscoggin counties.
Matthew Newton-Fortin of Auburn eventually admitted to several juvenile felonies, including attempted elevated aggravated assault and aggravated criminal mischief. He was ordered to remain at Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland until his 16th birthday.
In April, Shawn Demarest, now 15, of Litchfield admitted to aggravated criminal mischief and was sentenced by a judge to a juvenile correctional facility, such as Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, until his 16th birthday.
An 8th District Court judge in Lewiston suspended that sentence and directed Demarest to remain at a children’s residential treatment home, Becket House at Litchfield in Litchfield, where Demarest had been living before the incident.
He will be on probation until his 16th birthday, during which time he must continue his schooling, mental health and psychological counseling and treatment, have no contact with co-defendant Newton-Fortin and perform 50 hours of community service.
The two boys faced numerous criminal charges stemming from the incident, during which police said the two climbed into a $10,000 bucket loader that belonged to a Richmond general contractor without permission shortly after midnight in West Gardiner.
From there, the pair drove the machine through Sabattus, running over an $8,000 sign in front of Fielder’s Choice Homemade Ice Cream and plowed into mailboxes, parked cars, street signs and fire hydrants throughout Sabattus, according to police reports.
They continued south through Lewiston onto the Maine Turnpike and crossed the median, facing oncoming traffic in the northbound lanes. The bucket loader struck a police car in Lewiston and a private vehicle on the turnpike before Lewiston officers shot at the bucket loader’s tires near the New Gloucester barrier toll early on Sept. 12, police said. The two boys were taken from the bucket loader shortly after 5:30 a.m.
The Office of the Maine Attorney General determined after an investigation that Lewiston Police Sgt. Derrick St. Laurent acted with legal deadly force to defend innocent motorists in the path of the loader.
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