A chase that began in New Hampshire ended with a man being shot and killed by police in Fryeburg. A deputy also was injured in a crash during the chase.
The incident began about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Conway, New Hampshire, where authorities chased a black pickup truck across the Maine border and into Fryeburg.
Fryeburg police and the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office picked up the chase and tried to stop the truck on Main Street in Fryeburg, where the driver hit multiple vehicles and crashed into the snowbank in front of Norway Savings Bank.
The driver, 52-year-old Kenneth Ellis, then got out of the truck and allegedly approached a Fryeburg police officer with a knife in hand. That’s when he was shot by Fryeburg Officer Micheal St. Laurent, according to police. Ellis died at the scene.
The officer is on administrative leave, which is standard procedure as the Maine attorney general’s office investigates the officer-involved shooting.
Oxford County sheriff’s Deputy Justin Groetzinger, who was assisting with the chase, was involved in a separate crash. Groetzinger hit a vehicle that turned in front of him on Main Street in Fryeburg, according to police.
The Oxford County Sheriff’s Office said Groetzinger was taken to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.