A Hollis man with a suspended license faces numerous charges after he drove at high speeds through Westbrook on Wednesday morning, endangering other motorists and forcing several schools to go into lockout mode after he abandoned his car and attempted to flee on foot, police said.
Officers arrested Christopher Levesque, 27, on Terminal Street, near the Saunders Way Business Park, Westbrook police said in a release posted on the department’s Facebook. He is facing multiple criminal charges that include unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs, violation of conditions of release, failing to stop for an officer, driving to endanger and operating with a suspended driver’s license. He also was cited for a number of traffic violations.
Levesque has 11 active license suspensions on his record, police said. He was being held without bail at the Cumberland County Jail.
A Westbrook police officer saw Levesque driving erratically and at high speed around 10:34 a.m. on the Westbrook Arterial. Levesque fled when the officer tried to pull him over, passing other vehicles in a dangerous way. Police found his unoccupied vehicle in the Saunders Way Business Park. Officers swarmed the location and set up a perimeter. A police dog tracked him through the area and he was later captured on Terminal Street without incident.
Westbrook police said that several public schools in the area went into lockout mode, meaning that no one was allowed to go in or out of school buildings, while police searched for Levesque. Police said their investigation turned up a large amount of methamphetamine in Levesque’s vehicle.
Note: This article was updated Thursday to remove references to a high-speed chase and that the driver traveled through the downtown. The incident happened in the Saunders Way/Larrabee Road, police said.
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