Game Warden Injured in Snowmobile Pursuit

AUGUSTA, Maine -- A Maine Game Warden was injured Sunday afternoon when the snowmobile he was riding slid into a snowmobile he was pursuing after it had failed to stop for the game warden.

Game Warden Jason Luce fractured his right leg after the snowmobile he was pursuing, operated by Daniel Atkinson, age 19 of Windham, stalled and stopped suddenly as he tried to elude Luce by turning. The snowmobile Luce was operating slid into it, with Luce's leg in between them. Atkinson was unhurt.

Luce was pursuing the snowmobiler after Atkinson had skimmed across an open expanse of Little Sebago Lake in Windham. Skimming is the act of operating or attempting to operate a snowmobile on open water. This practice is illegal, and carries a fine of not less than $100 and no more than $500. A person who commits three or more of these violations in a three year period commits a class E crime.

Luce, who was issuing a summons to another snowmobiler at the time, motioned to the violating rider (Atkinson) to stop, but Atkinson failed to do so, and instead sped off at a high rate of speed on his 1999 Skidoo 800 MXZ. Luce, who was on foot since his 1995 Skidoo Skandic had ceased to operate, used the snowmobile of the operator he had just summonsed to pursue the fleeing snowmobile. The pursuit lasted only minutes, covering the span of the lake, before the machines collided.

Major Greg Sanborn, chief of field operations for the Maine Warden Service, is reviewing the Maine Warden Service Policy 3, "pursuit policy", to determine if Luce acted appropriately.

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