Man allegedly uses child to shield himself from police stun gun

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After allegedly using a child as a shield and leading sheriff’s deputies on a chase, a Waterboro man is being held without bail at York County Jail in Alfred.

Vincent Cole, 28, was arrested and charged with violation of conditional release, refusing to stop for a police officer, and driving to endanger, all Class E misdemeanors; endangering the welfare of a child; operating after suspension; and failure to wear a seat belt.

Cole was denied bail, and he was scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

On Sunday at approximately 7:30 p.m., York County sheriff’s deputies responded to Orchard Drive in Waterboro for a report of a disturbance, according to a news release from York County Sheriff William King. Cole had allegedly been involved in a domestic disturbance with his girlfriend. He was not at the scene when deputies arrived.

Deputies were aware that Cole had bail conditions from an arrest for elevated aggravated assault last month in which he is suspected of stabbing a bystander, King said.

In addition, one condition of Cole’s release following the earlier charges was that he stay at his Orchard Road residence from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., King said. When deputies cleared the residence at 8:20 p.m., Cole had not returned home.

Deputies searched around the Lake Arrowhead community in Waterboro for Cole, King said. At approximately 9:15 p.m., deputies found Cole driving, despite having a suspended driver’s license, according to the sheriff.

When deputies tried to stop Cole, he attempted to elude them, King said. Cole sped up and took a series of abrupt turns. As he approached his house, he opened the vehicle door and jumped out of the moving vehicle. The vehicle crashed into some debris and came to a stop when it struck a boulder. Cole fled into his house with deputies in close pursuit, police said.

Cole did not comply with orders to submit to arrest but advanced toward a deputy, King said. The deputy drew his stun gun and again ordered Cole to submit. Instead, Cole allegedly grabbed a small child police believed to be his daughter and used the girl as a shield. The child’s mother retrieved the child from Cole, and he then submitted to arrest.

A copy of the sheriff office’s report will be forwarded to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services for review and follow up.

In a prior incident on July 7, a party on Landry Road in Waterboro had gotten out hand, and the homeowner asked Cole who had attended the party to leave after apparently damaging some property, King said last month.

Cole didn’t comply and a physical altercation ensued, King said. Before fleeing outside, Cole allegedly assaulted the property owner, and another man who intervened, with an aluminum pipe.

A crowd formed around Cole to confront him, King said, when he produced a knife and threatened several people before stabbing a man identified as a guest of a nearby lakehouse who came to the scene after hearing screams. King said that man was stabbed by Cole unprovoked.

Cole fled with deputies in pursuit and was apprehended, King said. He was charged with one count of elevated aggravated assault, a Class A felony, for his actions during the July 7 incident.

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