DIXFIELD — Two River Valley police officers received a legislative sentiment from state Rep. Richard Pickett, R-Dixfield, at Monday evening’s Board of Selectmen meeting for their role in stopping an armed and dangerous fugitive last year who tried to kill them in Mexico.
Mexico officer Dean Benson and Dixfield officer Dustin Broughton both stood silently as Pickett lauded them for their roles in helping diffuse an extremely dangerous situation.
Pickett said that in August 2014, Steven Piirainen, 52, of Paris, stole a pickup truck in Norway and led police officers on a nearly 40-mile chase north to Main Street in Mexico. The chase ended in a standoff and, after several hours, Piirainen was shot and killed.
“I was the chief of police in Dixfield at the time, and I think this sentiment gives new meaning to us, as individuals of a town, when we talk about when police officers put their lives on the line for the job,” Pickett said. “Officers Benson and Broughton both put their lives on the line that day, and they had the lives of the citizens of Mexico and Dixfield on the line, too.”
He said if Piirainen had not been stopped, his last act “appeared to be taking out the gas pumps in front of the Circle K store on Main Street in Mexico.”
“Fortunately for all of us, that didn’t happen,” Pickett said. “Taking the life of somebody is not an easy thing to do. In this case, it needed to be done, and these men stepped up to the plate.”
Pickett pointed out that if Broughton hadn’t followed proper procedure and dropped to the floor of the police car when Piirainen started firing at the officers, a bullet likely would have struck him.
“There was a bullet hole inches away from his head,” Pickett said. “Officer Broughton followed proper procedure, and it helped to save his life.”
Benson and Trooper Paul Casey received bravery awards on Jun. 10 in Vassalboro from the Maine State Police for killing Piirainen, while Broughton, Rumford Sgt. Douglas Maifeld and fellow officer Matt Desroches received meritorious service awards for their roles in the incident.
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