Four people are facing charges after a police investigation into alleged drug use lead to a short car chase and an hours-long police dog search.

Nathon Taylor, Sherry Gilley, Jessica Simmons and Richard Potter face a variety of charges after police attempted to investigate alleged illegal drug activity on Aug. 7 at the Cumberland Farms on Pleasant Street.

Late Tuesday afternoon, police said that a car containing five people was seen leaving the gas station, possibly being driven by a man under the influence. Officers found the car, a red Volkswagen sedan, on Pleasant Street and police pulled the driver over near Spring Street.

Police said they “tentatively” identified three of the occupants and started the process of screening the driver for operating under the influence before he and the other occupants allegedly sped away. Officers briefly chased the car, but called off the pursuit given the volume of pedestrian and car traffic at the time.

The ensuing search for the red Volkswagen involved Brunswick, Topsham and Freeport police, as well as the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department.

Some Brunswick residents later spotted the car speeding on Tarratine Drive and Hemlock Road, according to police. Police then found the car behind a home at 29 Tarratine Dr., a dead-end road, where the driver allegedly drove through the lawn, a fence and into some trees behind the house.

Police said witnesses saw people running from the car, sparking a two-hour K9 search that spanned 5 miles. Pittston resident Simmons, 29, and Whitefield resident Potter, 27, who police identified as passengers of the car, were eventually found and arrested near Bowdoin College.

Police said Simmons and Potter were both charged with violating of conditions of release, refusing to submit to arrest, failing to disclose and possessing drug paraphernalia. Simmons also had additional arrest warrants from other law enforcement agencies, police said.

Freeport police later spotted a shirtless man getting into the back seat of a car on Bath Road, immediately prompting a traffic stop. Augusta resident Nathan Taylor, 45, who police said was the alleged driver of the vehicle, was then arrested.

Police said that the two additional suspects in the Volkswagen haven’t been identified, and that police are not searching for them.

A statement from police also said that 38-year-old Gilley, a Harpswell resident, was not arrested, but summonsed and released on charges related to violating conditions of release and hindering an arrest. Police said that Gilley was an occupant in the vehicle that picked up Taylor on Bath Road, and attempted to help Taylor avoid arrest.

Taylor, Simmons and Potter were brought to Cumberland County Jail and have a district court date of Oct. 2. The Cumberland County Jail confirmed that Taylor and Simmons bailed out overnight, and Potter remained in jail.

Efforts to reach Taylor, Simmons and Gilley Thursday were unsuccessful.