LEWISTON — A Biddeford man has pleaded not guilty to charges resulting from a police chase from Lewiston to Monmouth in a stolen car in May.
Allan D. Walsh, 46, faces two felonies and five misdemeanors, including eluding a police officer, aggravated operating a vehicle while license revoked, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, violating conditions of release and leaving the scene of an accident.
Police said they received a call the morning of May 10 about a driver at Cumberland Farms on Main Street who appeared to be “very out of it” and possibly unsafe to drive.
A Lewiston police officer approached the vehicle with the cruiser’s blue lights on and asked the driver to stop as he was pulling out of the parking lot, but he drove off, police said.
The officer followed the 2002 Nissan Sentra, which had been reported stolen a month earlier in Westbrook. It collided with a vehicle near Galaxy Glass on Main Street and kept going.
The chase continued on Main Street, also known as Route 202, through Greene and into Monmouth. Police said speeds never exceeded 65 mph.
Monmouth police took over the chase, and in North Monmouth the Nissan weaved in traffic and swerved in both lanes causing others to avoid it, according to police.
The driver, eventually identified as Walsh, pulled the car into the driveway of a house on Route 202 and was arrested. He was taken to St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston after complaining of difficulty breathing. Police said the hospital released him and he was taken to the Androscogggin County Jail in Auburn.
Walsh pleaded not guilty Tuesday in 8th District Court to seven charges.
He is being held in lieu of $5,000 cash, with conditions including no possession of alcohol or illegal drugs, for which he can be searched and tested at random. He is barred from driving a vehicle. A bail hearing is scheduled for Sept. 12.
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