A 36-year-old man is in stable condition and facing multiple charges following an incident with police on June 5 near the Calais-St. Stephen border.
Calais Police Chief David Randall said Calais Police Officer Charles Ball and Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy Taylor Leblanc conducted a traffic stop on Abinadi White at an intersection on Main and North Calais streets.
“]Mr. White was told that he was under arrest and refused to follow commands,” Randall said in the statement. “Officers attempted to taze Mr. White when he would not follow commands but were unsuccessful.”
Randall said officers attempt to physically take White into custody, who continued to resist, and pulled a sword on the officers and swung it at them.
“Officer Charles Ball and Deputy Taylor Leblanc both fired their weapons at Mr. White,” Randall said in the statement. “Mr. White was treated and transported by local rescue to Calais Regional Hospital and later life flighted to Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor where he was stabilized.”
Both officers, Randall explained, have been placed on administrative duty as part of the standard procedure when deadly force is used by police officers.
“The Attorney General’s Office will be investigating the use of deadly force, and the underlying criminal conduct will be investigated by Calais Police Department,” he said.
White is expected to be charged with failure to stop, operating after suspension, failure to submit to arrest and detention as well as criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon.
