Rebuilding put off at Maine police bomb site

BANGOR, Maine — A Maine man who was shot twice and whose home was destroyed by a police bomb is forgoing for the time being his plan to rebuild at the scene of the standoff.

Michael Grendell, 65, won a $400,000 settlement in 2020 after suing members of the Maine State Police and one member of the state attorney general’s office. That’s the maximum allowed under a state statute.

Grendell says he was in the midst of a mental health crisis on June 28, 2018, when police arrived at his home after a neighbor reported that Grendell had shot at him the day before in Dixmont.

Officers shot Grendell after the 20-hour standoff when they drew him out of the house by detonating an explosive using a robot.

Grendell, who was shot in the face and torso, spent several months in the hospital, according to the lawsuit.

He said previously that he wanted to rebuild on the property where the home was blown up, the Bangor Daily News reported. But records indicate he purchased a home in Bangor last year, and it’s unclear what will happen to the property in Dixmont, which he still owns.

State police had not previously employed the tactic of using a robot to deliver an explosive, and they have not done so since. The attorney general’s office has not yet completed its report on the standoff, a spokesperson said.

Grendell’s lawsuit indicated that he had mental health problems and that the neighbor alerted police to his deteriorated mental health and implored police not to hurt him, according to court documents.

Things went downhill quickly when police used a bullhorn to order him out of the house, according to court documents. Grendell emerged in his underwear and asked if they were the “real police.”

Later, he emerged with his dog on a leash and a Civil War-type rifle strapped to his shoulder, and he exchanged fire with troopers when state police used a robot to break a window in his home.

Police later detonated a bomb called an explosive breaching charge that was supposed to knock down a wall, but the blast obliterated the house and caused the roof line to fall to the ground.

Grendell pleaded no contest to reckless conduct with a firearm, and all other charges were dismissed in 2018.