Cruiser with key left in ignition
is stolen in Maine, crashed in Massachusetts

[PENOBSCOT COUNTY, ME]
by: Channel: Criminal Incidents

(EVERETT, Mass.) -- By 7:30 a.m. Saturday, 
the cruiser had been spotted at least twice in southern
Maine. About an hour later, Massachusetts State Police 
spotted the vehicle in Everett, Mass., some 200 miles 
from Bangor, and began a pursuit that ended near the 
Revere border when the stolen cruiser struck a MSP cruiser.

A Maine teen-ager faces a host of charges Saturday after 
he allegedly stole a sheriff's cruiser near his house and
drove through three states before the law caught up 
with him in a crash that also involved a Massachusetts
State Police cruiser.

Brian McCann, 17, of the central Maine town of  Hermon, is 
accused of taking the cruiser from the town-owned garage
where it was housed, Penobscot County Sheriffs Deputy 
Bill Laughlin told United Press International in a 
telephone interview.

"It's my understanding that there is some minor damage 
to the driver's door, there's two broken windows,"
Laughlin told Bangor television station WLBZ. 
"No one was hurt. That's what I understand at this 
point, which is very good."

Laughlin said that he cruiser had been locked, but 
that the key had been left in the ignition because
of ongoing problems starting the car when the key 
is removed. He didn't know what McCann's motive
might have been, but said the youth, who has a 
criminal record that includes theft, assault and
burglary, lives near the garage.

Laughlin, who oversees a few deputies in a unit 
that is assigned to the small town of  less than 5,000
under contract to the sheriff's department, said his 
staff was unaware the vehicle was missing until it
was spotted in southern Maine.

When the deputy who used the cruiser for a detail 
Friday night arrived at the garage Saturday 
morning for his day shift, said Laughlin, 
"The door was wide open, the car was gone, there 
was glass all over the floor."

McCann remained in custody in Massachusetts Saturday 
night pending a court hearing Monday. Trooper 
Thomas Los of the MSP Revere barracks, 
said the charges against McCann in that state,
where he is charged as an adult, include being 
a fugitive from justice, possession of a stolen motor
vehicle, driving to endanger and assault with 
a deadly weapon. In Maine, he is charged as a juvenile
with theft of a motor vehicle, burglary of a motor 
vehicle and burglary of the garage pending review
by the district attorney. "He'll be going back to 
Maine when he's through her,"  said Los.

And the next day...

Massachusetts officers nab Maine teen in cruiser joyride [HERMON, ME] 

(HERMON, ME) -- A Maine teenager apparently 
targeted a deputy sheriff who has arrested him
several times when he allegedly stole his cop 
car and took it on a three-state joyride that 
ended with a crash in Everett yesterday.

Brian E. McCann, 17, of Harmon, Maine, 
allegedly broke into a locked town garage and busted a 
side window to get into the locked cruiser, which had a 
key in the ignition. He left a note on another cruiser, 
but the cops haven't been able to make any sense of it.

"It was some kind of rock 'n' roll stuff," said Senior 
Deputy William Laughlin, who polices the town of
Hermon for the Penobscot Sheriff's Department. He 
has arrested McCann on charges ranging from
burglary to possession of drug paraphernalia, 
crossing paths with him as recently as two days ago 
in connection with a burglary.

"He's having a rough time through adolescence," 
said Laughlin. "I have talk to the kid a number of 
times. He's not a bad kid. He just short-circuited. 
Hopefully this will set him straight."

The cruiser was stolen about 2 a.m. yesterday in 
Hermon, which is near Bangor. Laughlin first heard
about it at 7 a.m. when someone in Kennebunk 
reported a speeding cop car with a broken window
and someone who didn't look like a cop at the wheel.

The joyrider stopped in York Maine, to gas up and 
drove off without paying. Other reports came in
from New Hampshire. Finally, on Route 1 in Revere, 
two Massachusetts state troopers who were on
the lookout spotted the cruiser.

"The kid took off," said state police Sgt. Ronald Sieberg. 
The troopers followed the stolen cruiser to Everett,
where the joyrider collided with two parked cars. 
He tried to back up and rammed a statie's cruiser 
behind him. No one was hurt.

"At that point I guess he just gave up," Sieberg said. 
McCann was charged with motor vehicle theft, failure 
to stop for police officers, driving to endanger, and
assault and battery with a dangerous weapon - the
cruiser.

McCann has pending burglary and theft charges in Maine, 
and will face new car theft and burglary charges 
there when Massachusetts is done with him.

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By Jules Crittenden

December 3, 2000 Sunday ALL EDITIONS

Copyright 2000 Boston Herald Inc.

The Boston Herald

December 3, 2000 Sunday ALL EDITIONS

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