NASHUA – Around midnight on Nov. 16, Hudson police officer Dan Donahue was parked on the side of Derry Street with his radar operating when a pickup truck zipped past “at a high rate of speed.”

Donahue, according to the reports now filed in Hillsborough County Superior Court-South, turned on his blue lights and pursued the truck, which, he said, continued along Derry Street, passed through the Highland Street intersection, then turned onto Ferry Street, where the driver pulled into the Gulf Express station.

When Donahue got to the driver’s window and asked him why he allegedly didn’t stop right way, the driver – whom Donahue would identify as 37-year-old Nashua resident Michael Derochers – told him he was “looking for a safe place to pull over,” the reports state.

Moments later, the seemingly routine traffic stop had escalated into anything but. As Derochers allegedly got back in his truck and sped off toward Nashua, Donahue was on his radio telling dispatchers to issue a be-on-the-lookout bulletin to police agencies throughout the region.

Derochers would soon encounter Merrimack police, then Massachusetts State Police troopers, who, according to the reports, began to pursue the truck when it crossed into Massachusetts on Route 3.

Just more than an hour after Derochers allegedly fled the Hudson traffic stop, he was in the custody of Massachusetts authorities, who arrested him without incident, police said.

On Wednesday, two days after his arraignment in Lowell district court, Derochers appeared in Superior Court in Nashua for arraignment and bail hearing on the Hudson charges, which include one count each of reckless conduct, disobeying a police officer, driving while intoxicated – second offense, speeding, and two counts of resisting arrest or detention.

The reckless conduct charge is a felony; the others are all misdemeanors.

The charges Derochers is facing in Massachusetts include operating under the influence – second offense; negligent operation of a motor vehicle; failure to stop; and fugitive from justice.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Assistant County Attorney Brett Harpster asked for, and was granted, a preventive detention order for Derochers, noting in his argument the danger Derochers put Donahue in when he allegedly sped off while Donahue was still holding on to him and the truck.

“He could have been pulled … dragged by the vehicle,” Harpster said. He also said Derochers nearly struck a Massachusetts State Police cruiser near the end of the pursuit.

Attorney Freda Spencer, a new addition to the Nashua office of the New Hampshire Public Defender, asked that Derochers be released on personal recognizance, noting that he turned himself in to Hudson police shortly after making bail in Massachusetts.

Spencer said Derochers would not pose a danger to others if released, chiefly because his license is suspended “and he won’t be driving. That should address most of the concerns regarding dangerousness,” Spencer added.

The arraignment and bail hearing took place in the Nashua court, but were conducted by Strafford County Superior Court Judge Mark Howard, who appeared via video conference in the Nashua courtroom.

Howard, after hearing the arguments, told Derochers that releasing him from custody would pose a danger to others. “I find clear and convincing evidence you are a danger … you posed a significant risk of injury to a Hudson officer, then to Massachusetts troopers,” Howard said.

Meanwhile, according to the reports, Derochers told Donahue he was allegedly speeding – Donahue’s radar clocked him at 51 mph in a 30 mph zone – because he was arguing with his girlfriend, who was in the passenger seat.

As they spoke, Donahue said he detected an odor of alcohol, adding that Derochers’ eyes were allegedly “bloodshot, glassy,” and he was allegedly “slurring his words.”

When Donahue asked Derochers to step out of his truck, Derochers allegedly said “no.” And when Donahue told him he was under arrest, Derochers allegedly responded, “I’m not getting out,” according to the reports.

The situation escalated from there, according to Donahue’s account of the incident. He said he managed to pull Derochers out of his truck, but Derochers allegedly refused to obey Donahue’s commands to put his hands behind his back.

Meanwhile, Donahue wrote, Derochers’ girlfriend “became agitated,” and, despite his orders to stay in the truck, she allegedly got out and began walking toward the men and, Donahue wrote, started yelling and screaming at me.”

At that point, the reports state, Derochers began making his way toward the driver’s side of the truck. He allegedly succeeded in avoiding an attempt by Donahue to take him down, and appeared unaffected by the Taser shot Donahue then delivered.

According to the reports, Derochers allegedly told his girlfriend to get back in the truck because “they were out of here.”

Donahue said in the reports he then tried to keep Derochers from getting in the truck, but had to “disengage” when Derochers allegedly put the truck in drive and accelerated away from the scene.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256, or at dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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