AUGUSTA — The former chief of the Maine Capitol Police, who was arrested last year after a scuffle with a Hallowell police officer outside a bar, has reached a deal with prosecutors that could mean his punishment will be a $300 fine.

Matthew M. Clancy, 63, of Sidney, entered into the agreement with prosecutors Tuesday, court records show.

Under the deal, which Superior Court Justice Deborah P. Cashman summarized in an order, Clancy and prosecutors agreed to a nine-month “informal deferred disposition.”

During that time, Clancy is to remain released on bail, with conditions that he not use or possess alcohol and that he not return to The Quarry Tap Room in Hallowell, where the August 2025 scuffle took place.

Clancy is also to engage in substance abuse counseling and treatment to the satisfaction of his provider, Cashman wrote. He must provide proof to prosecutors by Oct. 20 that he has sought that treatment. He then must continue in whatever treatment the provider recommends, providing proof of counseling to prosecutors in January 2027 and April 2027.

If Clancy complies and otherwise does not violate his bail conditions or the law, prosecutors intend to file a new misdemeanor-level charge of disorderly conduct, with Clancy agreeing to plead guilty and pay a $300 fine, according to Cashman’s order. 

The order does not explicitly say what would happen to the current misdemeanor-level charges of assault and refusing to submit to arrest or detention, but Clancy’s lawyer David J. Bobrow confirmed they would be dismissed as part of the agreement.

If he does not comply with the terms, the resolution of the case goes back to square one: Clancy can either plead guilty to the two current charges or proceed to trial, Cashman wrote.

Clancy is due back in court July 6, 2027.

Bobrow, reached via email Thursday, declined to comment on the informal structure of the deal and the negotiations that led to it.

In an email, District Attorney Natasha Irving did not answer why her office chose to structure the deal informally. She wrote that in a typical, formal deferred disposition, a defendant enters a guilty plea at the beginning and is given terms to comply with for six months to three years.

“With an informal, no plea is entered, so the matter could still go to trial if it is a bad outcome,” Irving wrote.

Irving, the elected top prosecutor for Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc and Waldo counties, was assigned to handle the case because Maeghan Maloney, the district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties, determined her office had a conflict of interest.

The Capitol Police is a bureau of the Maine Department of Public Safety tasked with security and other policing responsibilities at the state government buildings in Augusta, which is in Maloney’s prosecutorial district.

Clancy, who resigned Oct. 8, 2025, was in charge of the agency at the time of the Aug. 2, 2025, incident.

Hallowell police Officer Johnny Narvaez wrote in a report that at 11:58 p.m. on Aug. 1, he was parked outside The Quarry Tap Room on Water Street in Hallowell, when he saw a man, later identified as Clancy, in a verbal argument with security staff and other patrons. Hallowell police released the full report about a month after Clancy’s arrest, in response to a records request under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act.

When Narvaez asked Clancy to leave, Clancy said he did not have to do so, grabbed Narvaez’s shoulder and struck him on the forehead with an open palm, according to the report.

Narvaez began to escort him away, but Clancy pulled his arm away and the two got into a “brief physical struggle,” his report says.

A security guard assisted Narvaez with holding Clancy’s arms, and Clancy continued to resist, Narvaez wrote. The two then brought Clancy to the ground.

While doing so, Clancy struck and injured his head on the pavement, the report says.

Narvaez was eventually able to put Clancy in handcuffs, he wrote. While on the ground, Clancy said to Narvaez, “You are f—d now, do you know who I am?” the report says.

Narvaez learned from bar security guards that they had tried to kick Clancy out after he got into arguments with other customers, who were complaining he was taking photos without permission.

Clancy, after being taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center via ambulance, told hospital staff he had drunk two beers, but had consumed a few drinks somewhere else before going to The Quarry Tap Room. 

Clancy was placed on administrative leave the same day as the arrest, a Department of Public Safety spokesperson confirmed four days later, despite multiple inquiries before then about his status.

He resigned two months later, submitting a one sentence letter to Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck. The state paid out $2,442 and any unused time off, per a separation agreement signed the same day, released in response to a public records request.

Clancy earned about $107,000 in regular wages in 2024, state payroll records available online show. He also earned just more than $3,000 in overtime pay and collected about $24,000 in insurance and retirement benefits.

He had been chief of the Capitol Police since 2021. Before coming to Maine, Clancy was a police officer in Massachusetts for 39 years, including 20 years as a chief in two municipalities, according to information previously published on the Capitol Police website.

Officials in three of the Massachusetts towns that employed Clancy for most of his career — Plympton, Duxbury and Mashpee — said they had no records of any disciplinary actions or complaints regarding Clancy.

But Clancy had faced discipline in Maine before the arrest, public records show.

A 2023 disciplinary investigation found that Clancy requested a subordinate  state employee to perform services of a personal nature using a Capitol Police vehicle while on the clock, failed to report an interaction with local police, and on one occasion drove his state vehicle after drinking at the Augusta Country Club, prompting Sauschuck to propose a 40-hour unpaid suspension. A separate Waterville police report from July 2023 described Clancy appearing intoxicated and being picked up by a Capitol Police officer.