Maine man sentenced for crashing car into 4 state troopers

A Westbrook man accused of crashing his car into four state troopers in Hollis will spend two years behind bars after pleading guilty to multiple charges.

Tyler Croston pleaded guilty on Monday to four counts of aggravated assault and one count of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon.

As part of a plea agreement, three other charges, including the aggravated criminal OUI charge, were dropped.

Croston was sentenced to five years with all but 24 months suspended.

Croston was driving when he went off Route 202 in Hollis and hit four state troopers who were questioning someone in a driveway in August 2023.

At the time of his arrest, investigators said there was evidence Croston was operating the car under the influence of marijuana.

“There was a possibility of marijuana use by the operator of the vehicle and evidence at the scene backing that up,” York County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Jeremy Forbes said in August 2023. “A drug expert put him through a series of tests that he consented to at the hospital, and that showed that he was under impairment of a narcotic.”

Croston’s mother, Tami Croston, said she knew her son smoked marijuana 24 hours before the crash.

“But the night he left, he wasn’t smoking, that I knew of,” Tami Croston said in August 2023. “He was truly devastated, and I believe he was in shock, like I am right now still.”

The OUI charge was later dropped as part of the plea agreement.

Troopers Jake Mowry, Dakota Stewart and David Lemieux and Trooper-recruit Shane St. Pierre all suffered broken bones and serious injuries when the car hit them.

“At first, I couldn’t feel anything from my hip down,” St. Pierre said. “I couldn’t feel anything from my shoulder down to my left arm.”

“As soon as I woke up, I could pretty much tell I had an arterial bleed. And bones were sticking out of my leg,” Mowry said.

Once Croston is released from prison, he will spend three years on probation.