Update: Brewer Man Arrested, Charged With Kidnapping after Police Chase Not Part Of Ring

Update: Authorities do not believe this weekend's incident is connected to a larger human trafficking organization. They say both individuals knew each other and had traveled to the Bangor Target together when at some point an altercation occurred. That is why Cooper was charged with Domestic Violence Assault, among other things. 

Local law enforcement agencies were kept busy Saturday night as they pursued a man in a van who had allegedly kidnapped a woman from Target on Longview Drive in Bangor.

Sergeant Jason McAmbley, Public Information Officer with the Bangor Police Department, says authorities received multiple phone calls from folks in the area, all of whom claimed to witness a "man forcing a woman into a U-Haul rental van."

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The incident started around 10 PM. That's when McAmbley says the van took off, and witnesses started to follow it.

"The van drove out of the parking lot and went north on Stillwater Avenue with witnesses behind it, who were letting responding officers know the van’s location. Witnesses lost sight of the van when it turned onto Kelly Road, towards Veazie.

A short time later the van was spotted by officers as it was traveling southbound on Interstate 95. Officers pursued the van on I95, and then onto I395 eastbound, where it eventually stopped, near Exit 2."

Thanks to the aid of multiple neighboring law enforcement agencies and EMS, police arrested the driver of the van, Colby Cooper, 21, of Brewer, and charged him with Kidnapping, Eluding police, and domestic violence assault.

The victim was checked out by medical personnel and treated for minor injuries.

McAmbley says officers from Orono, Old Town, Veazie, and Brewer Police Departments along with the Maine State Police, and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department, all aided in Saturday night's chase and eventual apprehension of the alleged kidnapper.

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