The Maine State Police would like to express our disappointment and frustration in response to the Bangor Daily News article regarding the death of Jeremy Lau. We were told the story would be published ASAP and would be updated with comments from respected agencies as they came in.
Irresponsible journalism is when a media outlet is not interested in an agencies comments before publishing an inflammatory article about them.
Following the in-custody death of Jeremy Lau on March 1, 2022, the Attorney General’s Office investigated the incident and has released a statement indicating there was no criminal conduct involved in the law enforcement response. At the same time, the Maine State Police also investigated the incident to determine if the responding Trooper’s acted appropriately. The investigation determined no misconduct occurred and the State Police response was consistent with training and policy. The Troopers responded to assist Penobscot County Sheriff’s Deputies at their request to an emergency call for service where an impaired, combative individual who was swinging a bat and trying to hit people needed to be taken into custody. The investigation showed Troopers involved acted in an appropriate manner given the difficult circumstances of arresting Mr. Lau who was at the time a public safety risk. No Troopers were disciplined as a result of this incident.
Shannon Moss
Public Information Officer