Police have no dash camera footage from chase before fatal Bangor crash

There is no dashboard camera footage from the police chase that preceded a double fatal crash in Bangor on Monday.

Noah Mushero, 39, of Bangor and Sheena Soctomah-Rolfe, 39, of Orono died in a crash on Finson Road following a chase by the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office. The deputy was chasing Mushero and Soctomah-Rolfe before their speeding vehicle left the road and hit a tree. Their deaths were unattended, Bangor police Sgt. Jason McAmbley said.

While the sheriff’s office purchased dashboard and body-worn cameras early this year for its cruisers and deputies, they are not turned on, Chief Deputy John Knappe said. The department is waiting to do so until it can create a position for someone to manage the recording system, funding for which the Penobscot County commissioners pushed until next year’s budget, which starts Jan. 1, 2025.

The cost of the equipment and installation is expected to total $500,000, Sheriff Troy Morton said at May commission meeting. The sheriff’s office underestimated the amount of work it would take to manage the system and realized it needed a person dedicated to responding to requests for footage from lawyers and Freedom of Access Act requests.

Soctomah-Rolfe had a warrant for her arrest for alleged drug trafficking, McAmbley said.

Bangor police had a “brief pursuit” of Mushero and Soctomah-Rolfe on Saturday, two days before the fatal crash. The Bangor Daily News filed a Freedom of Access Act request Tuesday for the dashboard camera footage from that chase. It will be fulfilled in a “reasonable period of time” under state law, the police department said.

The Bangor Police Department is investigating the crash on behalf of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office. Maine State Police is providing crash reconstruction for the investigation.