PORTLAND – A city man arrested after a police chase in March will spend nine months in prison under an agreement that dismissed charges that put him at risk of deportation.

Rahim Faleh’s car struck three vehicles on Allen and Forest avenues as he fled police on March 30. The chase began after police received a report that Faleh was at the school one of his children attends.

Faleh, 50, whose children say has mental health problems, had been prohibited from contact with his children after his arrest in January on charges that he had threatened to kill them.

According to police, Faleh’s eldest child said Faleh suffered from severe mental health problems and had abused his children since they left Iraq six years earlier.

On Friday, Faleh was sentenced in Cumberland County Superior Court on five of the nine charges in connection with the chase.

He had pleaded guilty to reckless conduct, two counts of failing to stop, remain or provide information, driving to endanger and disorderly conduct.

The combination of suspended and concurrent sentences handed down by Justice Thomas Warren amounts to nine months of incarceration and three years of probation. Probation conditions bar him from contact with his two eldest children, 18 and 17, but allow contact with the younger three under provisions set by the Department of Health and Human Services — prohibitions that Assistant District Attorney Kate Tierney said the oldest children had agreed to.

Charges of reckless conduct, eluding an officer, operating while license suspended or revoked and violating conditions of release were dismissed. Also dismissed were domestic violence terrorizing and domestic violence assault charges from January.

During the hearing, Faleh huddled with his attorney and an Arabic interpreter and said little to the court directly.

J.P. DeGrinney, Faleh’s court-appointed attorney, said he explained to his client that a ban on contact with his two eldest children was not necessarily permanent. Warren noted that a court would not necessarily agree to a change in the probation conditions. “I understand,” Faleh told the judge.

In March, police responded to a report that Faleh was on the grounds of the school one of his children attends. Police said Faleh was driving on Allen Avenue and fled as they turned to approach him. Police said Faleh hit two moving cars and then a box truck, which rolled onto its side and went off the road. The truck driver and Faleh suffered minor injuries. A busy portion of Forest Avenue was closed for about four hours.

Staff Writer Ann S. Kim can be

contacted at 791-6383 or at:

akim@pressherald.com