TOPSHAM — A Woolwich man was removed from his car and taken to a hospital for treatment of a mental health issue after police say he refused to stop for Brunswick and Topsham police during a dicey drive through both towns late this morning.

Brunswick Deputy Police Chief Marc Hagan said a state Marine Patrol officer headed to a rescue call in Harpswell with lights and sirens on, first noticed the white Ford Ranger on Route 1 in Bath when it pulled out behind him and started to tailgate him, exceeding the speed limit by keeping up with him.

When the Marine Patrol officer exited Route 1 at Cook’s Corner, Brunswick police officer Julia Gillespie began to follow and tried to stop the pickup truck. When the truck exited Route 1 onto the Route 196 Coastal Connector and entered Topsham, she disengaged her lights and sirens and called for a Topsham officer.

Topsham Police Lt. Fred Dunn said Gillespie called Topsham police at around 11:24 a.m. Topsham officer Cheryl Holmes responded and observed the Ford Ranger, which was in the left turn lane at the intersection of Route 196 and Route 201, allegedly blow through the red light and turn left onto Main Street into oncoming traffic. Once the driver realized he was on the wrong side of the median, he jumped the median, Dunn said.

Holmes activated her emergency lights and siren at this point, “and that’s when he sped up,” going as fast as 50 miles per hour down Main Street, driving down the center of the road at times causing vehicles to go around either side of him, Dunn said. Trailed by Holmes, Gillespie and Dunn, the vehicle continued down Main Street and crossed over the Frank J. Wood Bridge, and then was stopped in traffic near Fort Andross. Police approached the vehicle but Dunn said the vehicle windows were rolled up and the doors locked, and the driver refused to open the doors.

At this point officers broke the driver side window to unlock the door. The driver, Colby Carr, 24, of Woolwich, refused to exit and was pepper-sprayed, Dunn said, and extricated from the vehicle by Topsham and Brunswick officers, “and then he started to fight… After that he was brought to the ground, handcuffed and he was too out of control to be taken by rescue so he was transported in one of Brunswick cruisers for his injuries,” to Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick where Hagan said he was taken for evaluation as well as for injuries sustained while fighting with officers.

Hagan said Carr was suffering from a mental health issue.

Dunn said it was imperative police stop Carr, who was operating erratically and headed straight for Maine Street in Brunswick. There had been many motorists on Main Street in Topsham as police tried to stop Carr too, he said.

Topsham police will charge Carr with eluding a police officer and driving to endanger. Hagan said Brunswick police have issued Carr a summons charging him with driving to endanger, refusing to submit to arrest or detention, and failure to stop for a law enforcement officer.”

No officers were injured.

dmoore@timesrecord.com