Published: 6/30/2017 12:08:26 AM
Modified: 6/30/2017 9:52:31 AM
White River Junction — A 31-year-old Quechee man who was shot by New Hampshire police last month after he allegedly broke into his mother’s Quechee Lakes home, stole her car and led police on a chase has pleaded not guilty to charges he faces in Vermont.
Bryan Evans was confined to a wheelchair at his arraignment in Windsor Superior Court on Monday, having suffered a gunshot wound to his leg in the May 19 incident on Interstate 89 in Hopkinton, N.H.
Judge Theresa DiMauro released Evans on conditions, including that he reside at his mother’s Murphy Road home.
In an email on Thursday, Windsor County State’s Attorney David Cahill said Evans’ lawyer, Jordana Levine, told the judge that Evans requires significant in-home care and his mother is the person currently providing it.
“In Vermont, bail can only be imposed to mitigate risk of flight or nonappearance,” Cahill said. “Given Mr. Evans’ family ties here, injuries, and ongoing medical needs, no bail was imposed.”
Messages left for Levine, Evans and his mother, Laurie, weren’t immediately returned.
It is unclear when exactly Evans was released from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and when he turned himself into New Hampshire authorities. He faced a New Hampshire judge in late May and pleaded not guilty to receiving stolen property, unauthorized use of a propelled vehicle, disobeying an officer and three counts of criminal threatening, according to court records.
Once out on bond in New Hampshire, he turned himself in to Vermont authorities, Cahill said. His arraignment in Windsor Superior Court was then scheduled, at which he pleaded not guilty to burglary, grand larceny, unlawful mischief, petty larceny and operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent.
The case started when Evans allegedly broke into his mother’s home, took her car keys and fled south on Interstate 89 in her Toyota sedan. Laurie Evans told police she thought her son may be headed to Boston to purchase drugs. Evans had been living with his mother, but she recently asked him not to return home, court documents said.
New Hampshire State Police located the car on Interstate 89 in Sutton, N.H., but Evans refused to pull over, police said.
When he ultimately did stop, authorities said, Evans refused to obey commands to show his hands and “quickly pulled” them out of his jacket in a “two-handed, gun-style” fashion.
Three officers, including a New London police officer, shot at him. One missed, one officer’s gun malfunctioned, and one bullet fired by Trooper Michael Arteaga struck Evans in the leg, according to a preliminary report from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office. Although Evans was not armed, the state Attorney General’s Office found the officers were legally justified in the shooting, the report states.
Evans has a dispositional conference scheduled for Aug. 2 in New Hampshire and a status conference scheduled for Aug. 8 in Vermont.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.