Woman waves ‘frantically’ for help from car, then police chase driver, Maine cops say

Julia Marnin
·2 min read
35

A Maine police officer saw a woman waving “frantically” for help from a car window and tried pulling over the driver, who is accused of not stopping, according to authorities.

With the woman in the passenger seat, Benjamin Martineau led police officers on a 20-minute chase through Portland on the afternoon of March 17, the Portland Police Department said in a news release.

After ignoring the officer who tried to pull him over, Martineau sped off through Portland and onto Interstate 295, according to police. He’s accused of driving without a license.

At one point, the woman seemed to open the car door while Martineau kept driving with multiple officers trailing behind him, police said. The officers tried to deploy spike strips to force the car to a stop but were unable to because of “heavy traffic.”

Ultimately, Martineau pulled over near the 12-mile marker on the highway and police carried out a “high-risk stop,” according to authorities.

Now, Martineau has been arrested on 12 criminal charges, police said.

The charges include criminal restraint, domestic violence assault, domestic violence criminal threatening, eluding an officer, refusal to stop, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, two counts of driving to endanger, obstructing the report of a crime, operating without a license, terrorizing and leaving the scene of an accident.

Information regarding Martineau’s legal representation wasn’t immediately available.

Portland Police Department spokesman Brad Nadeau told McClatchy News on March 18 that the department will not be releasing additional details at this time as an investigation is ongoing.

The relationship between Martineau and the woman inside the car is unclear.

Following his arrest, Martineau was taken to the Cumberland County Jail, police said.

If anyone has information about the incident, investigators are asking the public to call police at (207) 874-8575 or “text keyword PPDME and your message to 847411.”

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