4 Arrested After Trooper Chase From Concord Through Bow, Dunbarton, Goffstown, And Bedford

CONCORD, NH — A Lakes Region felon with a lengthy criminal history was arrested in Manchester early Tuesday morning after a chase through several cities and towns.

Around 11:30 p.m. on Monday, a state trooper attempted to stop a Subaru Outback on Hall Street in Concord but accused the driver of refusing to stop and fleeing south on Route 3A. The driver entered Bow and eventually, according to Tyler Dumont, a public information officer for New Hampshire State Police, the center of town. State troopers from Troop D chased the car along various streets in Bow, reporting clocked speed limit and lane control violations, according to scanner chatter.

“Additional troopers responded and were able to successfully deploy a controlled tire deflation device on Robinson Road, deflating two of the vehicle’s tires,” he said. “However, the operator of the Subaru continued to drive, despite having two flat tires, toward Dunbarton.”

State troopers from Troop B joined the chase and attempted to stop the vehicle in Goffstown. Another tire deflation device was deployed, and a third tire was deflated, Dumont said, but the driver still refused to stop. The driver, later identified as Michael Gruette, 46, of Center Barnstead, drove into Bedford and “erratically toward Manchester and Interstate 293,” he said.

Gruette was finally stopped on South Main Street in Manchester, Dumont said. He was charged with reckless driving, disobeying an officer, operating after suspension, multiple counts of reckless conduct, and warrants out of Concord. State police did not release the names of the three passengers by post time but Dumont said they were arrested on warrants.

Gruette’s criminal history dates back more than a decade when he was arrested on a forgery charge in Pembroke and an acts prohibited charge in Concord in 2013, according to superior court records.

The drug charge was dropped several months later, but Gruette pleaded guilty to the forgery charge in March 2015, making him a felon. He received probation on the charge and violated that probation twice. The first time, he was given 90 days jail credit; in the second case, he received a three-and-a-half to seven-year sentence in November 2016, all suspended for 15 years — meaning he is still on probation for his first felony conviction, according to court filings.

Gruette was arrested in May 2014 on three forgery charges after a September 2013 incident in Concord. Three months later, all three charges were dismissed.

In March and April 2016, Gruette racked up 19 charges connected to six incidents in Concord, including several acts prohibited counts, burglary and theft, and many forgery and identity fraud charges. There was at least one guilty plea in all six cases.

Gruette was involved in an incident in Bow in February 2019 involving four receiving stolen property counts, felonies due to two prior theft convictions. He pleaded guilty to all four and received suspended sentences which expired last week. Gruette was found guilty of violating probation in July 2020 and received four more suspended sentences, which are all active, with 78 days time served.

In Boscawen, in September 2022, Gruette was charged with acts prohibited and false report to police. He pleaded guilty to the drug charge and received a 12-month sentence and $620 fine all suspended for a year.

Anyone with information regarding the chase was asked to contact Trooper Joshua Farmer at 603-223-4381 or Joshua.A.Farmer@dos.nh.gov.

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