PORTLAND, Maine — The tightening of the Cumberland County Jail's acceptance policy put officers and civilians at risk this week when a suspect who typically would have been held to the jail was denied, leading police to release him, Portland Interim Police Chief Heath Gorham said Friday.
The jail has been experiencing staffing shortages that have led federal authorities to remove around 20 to 22 inmates from the jail to other facilities to offset the load, Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce told NEWS CENTER Maine in September. Gorham said this has put officers and civilians in an unsafe position.
“My officers were forced to remove the handcuffs from a suspect that was actively threatening them and release him from custody because the crimes he committed did not meet the jail’s acceptance policies," he explained. "A short time after his release he terrorized staff at a nearby hotel and assaulted several officers.”
NEWS CENTER Maine reached out to the Portland Police Department to discuss the incident but were told the department is unable to conduct an interview and are referring media to the press release.
The suspect Gorham referenced is Steven Gruerman, 44, of Appleton, who was arrested Wednesday and charged with operating under the influence and operating without a license following a traffic stop on Riverside Street.
Police brought Gruerman back to the station and were in the process of issuing citations for the alleged driving offenses when Gorham said Gruerman realized his vehicle had been towed and therefore would not be able to drive home. Gruerman then began threatening the arresting officer and threatened to “blow up” the police station and destroy police cars, according to Gorham.
"Because of the jail closure, the only option available to the officer was to remove the handcuffs and release Gruerman with an additional citation for terrorizing," Gorham said. "Gruerman continued to threaten the officer and threatened to destroy equipment in the police department before finally leaving the station."
Only a couple of hours later, shortly after midnight Thursday, the Portland Regional Communications Center received 911 calls from Gruerman in which he reportedly continued making threats to come to the police station, assault officers, and damage police vehicles, Gorham said. Officers were assigned to the area of the station and found Gruerman nearby but decided not to engage with him in hopes he would leave the area.
Within a few minutes, a 911 call was received from the Hampton Inn at 209 Fore St. reporting that a man was inside the hotel threatening staff who, due to safety concerns, had locked themselves in an office, Gorham said.
When officers arrived, they found Gruerman inside the hotel, where police said he threw a cup of hot coffee, punched a hole in a wall, and punched and kicked officers as they were trying to take him into custody.
Gorham said police contacted the jail again, and the jail still refused to take Gruerman into custody.
Gruerman was eventually arrested and taken to the jail on the following charges: assault on a police officer, criminal threatening, disorderly conduct, and criminal mischief.
“This is beyond frustrating," Gorham said. "Something has to be done soon as this policy is putting our officers and our community at risk. We were fortunate there were no serious injuries.”
"I know that other police departments are frustrated, my own law enforcement division is frustrated. I'm frustrated, the corrections office is frustrated," Sheriff Joyce told NEWS CENTER Maine Friday. "We're trying to juggle things that people expected us to do pre-COVID in a post-COVID world with not a lot of staff.
Joyce says right now, his department is operating with roughly 45 percent staffing levels, and there are about 75 open positions.
"We're trying to do the best we can to meet the public safety needs of what people expect out of us. But trying to do everything that's expected of us with less, it's a challenge," Joyce said.
According to Joyce, the corrections department hired three individuals at the beginning of the week, and one has already resigned. He says corrections staff have been working extremely hard to cover shifts and keep the jail operating.
"At a certain point, if I lose any more people, the stakes get even higher. What I'm able to do today, I won't be able to do. I've got to preserve those," Joyce said.
Joyce adds he has asked his staff to be a bit more flexible to allow for repeat offenders re-energize an incident, similar to Gruerman, to be taken into the jail in some circumstances.
"Maybe we need not to be so black-and-white and so rigid and take it on a case-by-case basis," Joyce said.
Gruerman made his initial court appearance in Cumberland County Friday. He's facing seven charges connected to two incidents, including OUI, terrorizing, and assault.
Gruerman's bail was set at $5,000 cash or $2,000 cash with a Maine Pretrial contract.
