A Maine State Trooper and his police dog escaped serious injury after his cruiser crashed and caught fire during a chase.
Sgt. Jonathan Russell was traveling on Route 26 in Oxford on Sept. 3 at 11:11 p.m. when he tried to pull over another vehicle for speeding, according to a news release from the Maine Department of Public Safety.
The vehicle turned on to Rabbit Valley Road and Russell followed, but “being unfamiliar with the road was unable to negotiate a turn at the bottom of a hill and his cruiser left the roadway to the left and into a ditch,” the release stated.
The cruiser came to a rest nose-down in the ditch.
Russell exited the vehicle and was able to remove the K-9, Preacher, before the cruiser “became fully engulfed in flames and ammunition in the back of the vehicle exploded,” the release stated. “The cruiser and all the equipment inside were a total loss.”
Russell sustained minor injuries when his airbag deployed. The dog was unharmed.
The vehicle Russell was chasing is believed to be a mid-2000s Chevrolet or GMC with a utility body on the back, according to the release. The driver’s identity is unknown.
State police were assisted at the crash scene by police from Norway, Paris and Oxford, as well as the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office and Oxford Fire and Rescue.
