ELLSWORTH, Maine — The convicted murderer who led police on a high-speed chase between Bucksport and Brewer in a stolen car this week told police he had been looking for a car to steal, according to court documents.
Sixty-six-year-old Kent Hanson of Bucksport, who reportedly has a history of stealing vehicles, remained in custody Friday at Hancock County Jail facing several charges stemming from the chase that reached speeds of 90 mph.
In court documents obtained from Hancock County Superior Court, Bucksport police Officer Daniel Harlan reported that he read Hanson his Miranda rights and the man agreed to speak with him without a lawyer present.
“I asked him what he was doing and he said he got scared,” Harlan said in the report. “I asked why he stole the car he told me he was looking for a car to steal and that the keys were in the car. He told me that he was looking for a vehicle to steal and it was the first one he found that could be taken easily.”
Hanson allegedly took the 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier from the parking lot of Dental Associates on Mechanic Street at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Harlan had been patrolling on Route 15 when the call came in and was headed back into town with his blue lights and siren activated when he noticed the stolen car headed north on that road. He turned the cruiser around and attempted to stop the vehicle.
“Instead of stopping,” Harlan wrote in the report, “the operator sped up and started to make dangerous passes. I followed the vehicle as it sped up to 80 mph-plus.”
Harlan reported that he followed the vehicle as it wove in and out of traffic, often traveling in the southbound lane. At one point, the fleeing vehicle almost collided with a pickup truck.
“The operator showed no regard for the other vehicles and continued weaving around every car we came up on,” Harlan wrote.
Deputies from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department laid spike mats across the road near the golf course in Orrington in an effort to stop the vehicle.
“I followed as the vehicle swerved into the ditch on the right side of the road to avoid the spike mats,” Harlan reported. “He was successful at avoiding the first two spike mats.”
Brewer police officers were able to stop the vehicle with two more spike mats that punctured the two front tires on the vehicle.
“The operator was not able to navigate the corner near the Brookside Bar and Grill in Brewer and slowly came to rest after hitting two utility poles on the side of the road,” Harlan said. “I and many of the other officers approached the vehicle with weapons drawn.”
Hanson was not able to get out of the car because of the damage to the vehicle, which had come to a stop near one of the utility poles. Officers lifted Hanson from the vehicle through the driver side window. Hanson told officers that he had medications on the front seat.
When Harlan asked Hanson why he did not stop when he saw the cruiser with the light flashing, the man again said he was “scared.”
“I asked him why he didn’t stop and he said he replied he was scared,” according to the officer. “He said that it was stupid and he wasn’t really sure why he did it.”
Hanson served 20 years in prison in Vermont for the 1985 murder of a female acquaintance, according to a report published Wednesday in the Bangor Daily News. Before the murder, he spent six years in a Vermont state hospital after pleading not guilty by reason of insanity to the 1964 killing of his wife.
In May 2005, he took a 2003 GMC pickup truck from the 2nd Chance Ranch in Charleston, where he had been staying since his release from prison in Vermont six days earlier. He was sentenced to five years in prison on charges stemming from that theft and was released from Downeast Correctional Facility in Bucks Harbor on Aug. 5.
Hanson received a shoulder injury in the crash and was treated at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital before being taken to the Hancock County Jail. He remained at the jail Friday afternoon on $10,000 cash bail or $50,000 surety. He is charged with theft, eluding an officer, operating after suspension, driving to endanger, and speeding 30 mph over the posted speed. Other charges may be pending.
Hanson is scheduled to appear in Hancock County Superior Court on Nov. 20.