Attorney general clears deputies in fatal shooting outside Rumford police station

Two Oxford County sheriff’s deputies have been cleared in the October 2023 shooting death of a Canton man.

Investigators with the Maine attorney general’s office released on Friday their findings in the shooting death of 23-year-old Sean Dyment. The Maine attorney general’s office investigates any time an officer in the state uses deadly force.

A woman called police about 8:13 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2023, to report that a man, later identified as Dyment, was following her in another vehicle. She had honked at him earlier and then he started following her. She told dispatchers she was concerned because she had her young son in the backseat, according to the investigators’ report.

The woman was directed to drive to the Rumford Police Department, where officers would meet her.

Oxford County sheriff’s deputies Matthew Steinort and Cpl. Joshua Aylward heard the radio chatter about the call and began heading to the police station to assist Rumford police Sgt. Donald Miller. A third officer, Mexico Police Officer Ashley Rich, also heard the radio chatter and made his way to the station, according to the report.

While the officers were at the station, Dyment drove up in a vehicle matching the description given by the woman. Aylward recognized Dyment, who pulled up to the deputy earlier in the day and reportedly told him that “bad things are happening tonight,” according to the report.

Steinort moved his cruiser to block in Dyment so that the woman could leave the area.

Outside the station, Dyment allegedly yelled at the officers, swearing and making threats.

Steinort heard what sounded like the racking of an AR-style rifle or long gun, and he ordered Dyment to drop the weapon. He told investigators he saw Dyment point the gun toward Miller and Aylward.

Both Steinort and Aylward opened fire, hitting Dyment, who was taken to Rumford Hospital, where he died.

The Maine medical examiner’s office determined Dyment died from gunshot wounds. A toxicology report found amphetamines and methamphetamine in his system.

Police recovered a Palmetto State Armory Model AK-1035 rifle, with a round in the chamber and 17 bullets in the magazine, according to the report.

Investigators concluded that Steinort and Aylward believed that Dyment, who didn’t respond to orders to drop his weapon, posed an “imminent threat” to the officers outside the Rumford police station.

“All the facts and circumstances point to the conclusion that Deputy Steinhort and Cpl. Aylward reasonably believed he was acting in self-defense and defense of others at the time they used deadly force,” the investigators wrote.