YORK COUNTY, Maine — A Westbrook man has been sentenced to serve two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from hitting state police with his car in Hollis in August 2023.
Tyler Croston faced numerous charges after police said he hit a group of three Maine State Police troopers and a recruit with his car on Aug. 27, 2023, on Route 202 in Hollis.
The state troopers who were hit by the car were identified as Jake Mowry, David Lemieux, and Dakota Stewart. The recruit was identified as Shane St. Pierre.
The officers recalled the night of the incident during an interview with NEWS CENTER Maine nearly three months after it happened. They said they were responding to a call when a car came out of nowhere.
"One second everything was fine. It was just a typical investigation that we were doing, and then within a second nothing was fine," Stewart said.
St. Pierre remembered watching the traffic over his shoulder, and then in the blink of an eye a car was coming straight at him.
"I was able to see the vehicle actually come in and veer towards us and look pretty well straight down the hood," St. Pierre said.
Mowry, Lemieux, and St. Pierre were taken to Maine Medical Center with serious injuries not considered life-threatening, and Stewart was treated for several broken bones in his right foot before being released from the hospital, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss said.
Lemieux said during the interview with NEWS CENTER Maine in November that he suffered three fractures in his ankle that required several surgeries and physical therapy. Mowry had a compound fracture to his tibia and fibula and some damage to an artery in his lower leg. St. Pierre also broke his tibia and fibula.
At a press conference on Aug. 28, 2023, one day after the crash, Col. William Ross with the Maine State Police said this number of injuries in one incident for their force is "unprecedented." He said the crash took place on a straight stretch of road, and the troopers were very visible.
Croston pleaded guilty Monday to four counts of aggravated assault and one count of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon in York County Superior Court, according to the district attorney's office. Three other charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement, the district attorney's office said.
Justice James Martemucci presided over the plea and sentencing.
Croston was sentenced to five years with all but two years suspended followed by three years of probation.