The man who stole a police cruiser while handcuffed and survived 11 officers shooting at him has been sentenced.
Gary Porter, 38, was sentenced Tuesday in Oxford County Superior Court to 10 years in prison with all but two suspended and three years of supervised release, according to the Sun Journal.
Porter, who appeared via videoconference from the York County Jail in Alfred, was sentenced on three counts of theft by unauthorized taking and reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, the Journal reported.
The state dismissed charges of escape, unauthorized use of property, assault on an officer, eluding officer and violation of conditions of release against him, according to the newspaper.
Porter was arrested about 7:18 a.m. on May 6, 2024, after he was found sleeping in a chicken coop in Paris and an officer found Porter was wanted for failure to appear in court on a theft charge.
He was taken to Stephen’s Memorial Hospital in Norway, where he was treated for conditions unrelated to his initial arrest. Paris Police Chief Michael Dailey then took Porter in his unmarked police truck to the Oxford County Jail in South Paris. Porter, whose hands were cuffed behind his back, was placed in the front sea.
When they arrived at the jail, Dailey got out and stored his handgun in the back seat. As he walked around to Porter’s side, Dailey saw Porter move his hands from behind his back to his front and move behind the wheel of the still-running truck. Dailey tried to get into the truck, but the doors were locked.
The chief was thrown from the truck as Porter allegedly sped away
Officers from the Norway, Oxford and Paris police departments, Cumberland County and Oxford County sheriff’s offices, the state fire marshal’s office and Maine State Police began pursuing Porter at speeds that approached 90 mph on Route 117, also known as Buckfield Road, in Paris.
The chase came to an end when Porter ran over a spike mat and the stolen truck went off the road and into the ditch.
During the ensuing bedlam, 11 officers opened fire, believing Porter had a gun and was shooting at other officers. Investigators with the Maine attorney general’s office, which cleared the officers in the shooting, found an officer had likely shot out the window of his own cruiser, which led police to believe a shootout was underway.
Porter then stole another cruiser and drove a short distance before crashing and eventually being taken into custody.
Porter was taken to the hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound.
On Tuesday, Porter apologized to police, saying he was experiencing “psychosis” at the time. The state took Porter’s mental health into account, the newspaper reported.