LEWISTON — A man was arrested Thursday afternoon on Ash Street after allegedly burglarizing vehicles, stealing a car and leading police on an erratic, high speed chase through town, police said.
Alexander Madore, 33, listed as a transient, was charged with unauthorized use of property, failure to provide police with a name, driving with a suspended license, leaving the scene of an accident, eluding police and violating conditions of release, according to the arrest log from the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.
Police were assisted by several local people, including Lewiston fire and public works crews, who kept an eye on Madore after he crashed the car on Main Street and fled on foot.
The pursuit began about 2:30 p.m. and ended when the car crashed into another vehicle and a guardrail minutes later.
Madore was taken to St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center after the wreck and police spent hours trying to determine his identity.
Lewiston Police Officer Jeff Burkhardt detains Alexander Madore, 33, Thursday afternoon on Ash Street in Lewiston after he was suspected of crashing a vehicle on Main Street and fleeing the scene. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
According to interim police Chief David. St. Pierre, the drama began when police were called for a report of a man going through vehicles in the area of 55 Strawberry Ave. The woman who called in the complaint reported to police the man stole her 2015 Nissan Versa and drove off into the River Valley Village apartment complex.
A short time later, St. Pierre said, a police officer spotted a car being driven erratically across the grass on Mollison Way a short distance from the apartment complex. The officer pursued the Nissan, which had turned on to Main Street where the driver headed toward the downtown “recklessly and at excessive speeds,” St. Pierre said.
“The officer very quickly terminated his attempt at stopping the vehicle,” St. Pierre said, “due to safety concerns.”
A short time later, it was reported that the car had crashed on Main Street, near Chapel Street, and that the shirtless driver had taken off on foot.
A number of people in the area saw the man dashing off and they followed him, keeping an eye on him until police arrived. When the officers got there moments later, they found the man in the area of Canal and Ash streets, about a block away from the crash site.
Madore was taken to the hospital “as a precautionary measure,” St. Pierre said. He did not appear to have suffered serious injury.
He was booked at the jail about 6 p.m.
The Nissan Versa, considered a total loss after the wreck, was towed.
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