Concord
Bryan Evans pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal threatening and one count of disobeying an officer on Wednesday morning in Merrimack Superior Court in Concord.
He was sentenced to three one-year prison sentences, all suspended on good behavior, and two years of probation.
Evans previously was charged with possessing a quantity of cocaine and fentanyl and driving his mother’s 2017 Toyota Camry, which he knew was stolen. However, Merrimack County Assistant Attorney Carley Ahern said his mother did not want to pursue the stolen property charge.
The charges stem from a May 19 incident in which state police engaged in a tense standoff with Evans on Interstate 89 in Hopkinton that shut down the areas around Exit 6 southbound for several hours and ended with Evans being shot.
Evans also had been charged in Vermont with burglary, grand larceny, unlawful mischief, petty larceny and operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent. In August, he pleaded guilty in Windsor Superior Court to unlawful mischief and operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent. He received two-year deferred sentences on both charges.
The episode began in Quechee, when Evans allegedly broke into his mother’s Quechee Lakes home, stole her car and led police on a chase through Vermont and New Hampshire. Police were looking for the Camry, which had been reported stolen. The car was spotted around 6:45 p.m. on May 19 on I-89 in the Sutton, N.H., area, and Evans refused to pull over for New Hampshire State Police.
When Evans did pull over in Hopkinton, between Exits 6 and 7, he refused to obey commands to show his hands; instead, “Evans quickly pulled his hand out of his jacket and pointed his hands in a two-handed, gun-style fashion at the officers,” a report from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office said. “These actions on the part of Evans led officers to reasonably believe that he had a gun pointed at them, and therefore prompted three officers to fire or attempt to fire their weapons at him.”
New London police officer James MacKenna and State Police Troopers Michael Arteaga and Daniel Livingstone fired at Evans, according to reports. MacKenna fired one shot from a rifle and missed; Livingstone attempted to shoot at Evans, but his handgun “malfunctioned and did not fire;” and Arteaga fired two shots from his handgun and hit Evans in the left leg, according to the attorney general’s report. Police were found to be justified in their actions. Evans was unarmed.
Evans was transported to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon and was discharged in June. He remained out on bail.
Valley News Staff Writer Jordan Cuddemi contributed to this report.