Police chase suspect may have been on 'suicide by cop' mission

WALPOLE, Mass. — After leading police on a 25-mile chase on the VFW Parkway, Route 128 and through neighborhoods, a local man is behind bars and due in court Thursday.

Police say while they were booking 28-year-old Michael LeBlanc after the chase he made statements indicating his intentions.

“He mentioned to the officers, indicating, it may have been a suicide by cop type of mission. He asked the officers what he had to do to get shot by the police,” Walpole Police Chief John Carmichael said.

LeBlanc was taken to Norwood Hospital at one point after his arrest for what police are calling a voluntary blood test.

Chief Carmichael said the there is a lot going on in LeBlanc’s life.

“Whatever is going on in his life right now caused him to make statements like that,” Carmichael said. “He may have been involved in some criminal activity, including an armed robbery.”

The chase began in Walpole after LeBlanc allegedly dragged a police officer 300 feet before that officer freed himself. That officer escaped without major injuries.

“They used great restraint, their right involved in a deadly force situation, very dynamic encounter and unfolded very rapidly, they chose not to fire their weapons at that point,” Carmichael said.

Court documents said that police were about to end the pursuit when "dispatch notified that a FOX news helicopter had the vehicle in sight....with the help of the FOX helicopter, we were able to ascertain that the suspect vehicle was still traveling on 95 south, had struck a guard rail, and was spinning out of control."

"Using the helicopters as a reference point, we were eventually able to find the area where the suspect had jumped from the vehicle and began to flee on foot," said the police report. Officers located Leblanc on the top floor of a nearby apartment building and arrested him.

Thursday morning, LeBlanc was on suicide watch at the Walpole Police Department.  As he was being transferred from the police department to court, LeBlanc said "I love the public, police suck."

Cox Media Group