Man shot by New York police was Maine doctor with history of misconduct

A man who was shot and wounded by New York State Police last week has been identified as a central Maine doctor with a history of infractions and license suspensions, most recently in 2021 for granting COVID-19 vaccine exemptions to more than 100 health care workers he had neither seen nor examined.

Paul Gosselin, 63, of Augusta was shot on July 2. In a press release issued the next day, New York State Police said troopers in Sullivan County received a report of a suspicious vehicle at a business on State Route 97 in Barryville.

Ultimately they found the man, later identified as Gosselin, who claimed to have a gun and said he would shoot the troopers, according to New York state police.

Gosselin allegedly fled to another business on the highway, got out of the vehicle then got back in and drove at a constable from the town of Lumberland, who was on foot near Gosselin’s vehicle.

A state trooper saw the scene unfolding and shot at the vehicle, with one of the shots hitting Gosselin, according to New York State Police.

Gosselin was brought to an area hospital and listed in stable condition at the time of the July 3 press release. On Monday, a New York State Police spokesperson told the Kennebec Journal Gosselin was still in the hospital.

The newspaper reported that Gosselin had been listed in a national missing persons database prior to the incident, and it was unclear why he was in New York.

Gosselin, an osteopathic doctor, had had multiple run-ins with the state licensing board before the improper vaccine exemptions. His license was suspended in 2014, according to board records, for allegedly prescribing himself medication and practicing medicine after ingesting drugs.

He was also disciplined for “unprofessional conduct” in 2002 after calling pharmacies and pretending to be his own physician’s assistant to fill prescriptions, according to the Morning Sentinel , and in 1999, for responding to an emergency call after he had consumed alcohol.