High-speed chase ends in deadly crash on Shaker Road in Gray

GRAY, Maine (WMTW) - Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce says a man involved in a high-speed chase through multiple counties is dead after crashing on Shaker Road in Gray.

According to the sheriff’s office, Nicholas Leibowitz, 30, of Plymouth, died at the scene.

Joyce told our media partner, WMTW News, that the driver died after crashing into an oncoming car after leading multiple law enforcement agencies on a chase through three counties, at times driving at very high speeds.

Joyce says the incident began when a man was first seen driving erratically in the Androscoggin County town of Leeds.

Officers had begun to follow when the driver allegedly sped off.

Shortly after, police in Oxford reported hearing the sound of tires screeching to a halt when the driver apparently approached a traffic jam caused by an unrelated car crash. The same driver seen in Leeds was then seen speeding down Route 26.

Joyce says during that time, dispatchers and law enforcement officers in Androscoggin and Oxford counties were coordinating with his deputies to figure out where the driver was heading.

The officer following the driver south into Gray had to break off the pursuit because it was unsafe to drive at such a high speed through the residential areas along Route 26.

That’s when the driver crashed into an oncoming car, whose driver could not get out of the way in time. The other driver was not hurt.

The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department now Leibowitz was driving at speeds reaching 90 miles per hour.

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