Man Running From Police on I-295 Sounds Like Something Right Out of a Movie
A man trying to escape from police in Portland caused a head on collision and ended up on foot on I-295 grabbing onto cars at full speed trying to get in.
The Portland Press Herald reports in a story that almost sounds like it could be the script of a scene in a movie, that 43-year-old Joshua Nelson from Windham was pulled over by Portland police for a problem with his taillight. He let a passenger out of the car and took off and of course he was pursued.
During the chase he caused a head-on collision on Forest Avenue. Luckily everyone was okay. He jumped out of his car and ran down Falmouth Street where he approached a box truck driver who locked his doors after a bystander warned him to do so. Nelson tried to get in unsuccessfully and continued to try to get into more cars on Falmouth Street before hoping a fence to get onto I-295.
Once on the highway, he was still trying to get into cars to escape as they sped by him at over 50mph. At one point he grabbed a tractor trailer truck and was dragged several feet before he rolled on the highway and got back up.
Police eventually caught up with him and realized he wasn't speaking. He spit out two small bags of crack cocaine and was arrested and sent to jail.
Once it was over, Nelson gave the quote that summed things up perfectly. "This is the only thing that can come from using drugs, death or jail. This (expletive) takes me right over, makes me a totally different person. I did what I did. Nail it to me."