• Tip from Gardner lumber yard employee ends manhunt

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Brian Lafrennie. Photo courtesy of Massachusetts State Police
• By Mike Elfland
  Telegram & Gazette Staff

  
  Posted Aug. 16, 2016 at 1:17 PM
  Updated at 7:02 AM
  
  

  GARDNER - A man who eluded police for several hours Tuesday is due in Gardner District Court.

  Brian Lafrennie, 29, was the subject of an extensive search - involving a state police helicopter and tracking dogs - after he bolted from his crashed car on Route 2 at the Westminster line.

  Earlier, about 11:30 a.m., Mr. Lafrennie was involved in a domestic dispute at the Price Chopper supermarket in Gardner. When police arrived at the store, Mr. Lafrennie sped away, leading police on a pursuit that ended when officers determined it was too risky to continue, according to Gardner police. Minutes later, Mr. Lafrennie's car crashed in the median of Route 2, and he bolted the scene on foot, police said. He entered woods on the westbound side of the highway.

  An extensive search followed, but initially came up empty.

  About 4 p.m., an employee of Maki Building Center on Linus Allain Avenue called police to say he saw a suspicious man on the property. Gardner and state police converged on the area, not far from the highway. A short time later, Mr. Lafrennie was apprehended on nearby Saunders Avenue.

  He faces a series of charges, including failure to stop for police. He is due in court Wednesday.

  Police captured a man they earlier sought, scouring woods off Route 2 near the Gardner-Westminster line after he bolted from his car during a pursuit.

  A police dispatcher would say only that the man was in custody. No further details were provided.

  A state police helicopter and police tracking dogs had been deployed in the search for the man, identified by authorities as Brian Lafrennie.

  About noon, police tried to pull over Mr. Lafrennie, who was wanted on arrest warrants, when his vehicle slammed into a tree off Route 2 east. He fled into the woods, prompting the extensive search.