RANDOLPH, Maine -- A man on probation who held sheriff's deputies at bay for more than four hours Wednesday and stabbed a police dog because he didn't want to go back to jail wound up there anyway, police said Thursday.
Dustin Smith, 22, of Randolph, who was on probation stemming from a two-year aggravated assault sentence he recently completed, is facing a laundry list of charges, according to Kennebec County Sheriff Randall Liberty.
The trouble started around 6:30 p.m. when Cpl. C.J. Neagle of the Kennebec County Sheriff's Office received a call of a reported theft of prescription medications in nearby West Gardiner, Liberty said, and the suspect -- Smith -- was hiding at the Windsor Heights Apartment Complex in Randolph.
In addition to his probation, Smith also had a warrant for failing to appear on an operating after suspension charge, according to Liberty.
Neagle found Smith in the parking lot of the apartment complex, but the suspect fled with the officer and his K-9, Draco, in hot pursuit. Found crouching behind a set of steps, Smith pulled a knife and threatened officers, Liberty said.
Smith then fled despite being held at gunpoint by officers, who were hesitant to use such force in a residential area, Liberty said. Smith managed to get into the building and barricaded himself inside an apartment after stabbing the police dog to the base of his left ear, Liberty said.
State Police tactical officers were called to the scene, and even though Smith released a woman and young child from the residence he was hiding in, he refused to cooperate, Liberty said, and a search warrant was approved at 10:15 p.m.
Liberty said Smith kept police at bay "because he wouldn't go back to jail," but at 10:50, Smith finally surrendered. Liberty did not indicate whether Smith had any drugs on him when taken into custody.
Draco, who underwent surgery at the Emergency Medical Clinic in Lewiston for emergency surgery, is expected to fully recover despite receiving numerous stitches and staples.
Smith was booked into the Kennebec County Jail on charges of unlawful interference with a law enforcement dog with a dangerous weapon, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, terrorizing, creating a police standoff, assault and refusing to submit to arrest.
Smith, who is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, is being held on a probation hold.
Copyright 2012 Bangor Daily News
