CLINTON — A search is continuing for two men who fled from authorities last week following a traffic stop on Interstate 95 in Clinton.
The events began Wednesday when a Maine state trooper made the stop and reviewed the identification provided by a passenger in the vehicle. It was discovered that the passenger, identified as 45-year-old Brian Strout, had a warrant for his arrest on drug charges, according to Shannon Moss, the public information officer for the state Department of Public Safety.
But at some point during the stop Strout fled the vehicle and ran into some nearby woods. A search ensued that lasted two to three hours until sunset.
Troopers later learned Strout was at a residence on Horseback Road in Clinton and he had left the home in a Chevy Trailblazer with a man identified as 29-year-old Collin Hellmuth, Moss said in an email.
A trooper spotted the Trailblazer and pursued it but then lost it on Wright Road. The trooper then saw Strout and Hellmuth running across a field into woods, Moss said. A 32-year-old woman who Moss said was Hellmuth’s wife remained in the Trailblazer and received medical care after she struck her head.
A canine unit was called in to help search for the men but the pair were not found. Moss said Hellmuth is being sought on charges that include eluding an officer, hindering apprehension or prosecution and operating after revocation.
It was not clear why the vehicle was stopped Wednesday on I-95, and Moss also didn’t explain how the woman received the head injury.
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