Derway said Lewis had previously made statements that he wouldn’t be taken alive and wanted “to commit suicide by cop.”

“He made it very clear who he was. He said, ‘Don’t you know who I am?’” Derway said.

Police around the region had been made aware of Lewis’ possible presence in the region earlier in the week.

The crash happened around 9:30 p.m. Residents of Edward Street said they heard the crash, but when they were told that a man involved had a gun, they fled into their homes.

“We heard the car go down the street and the crash. We all came outside, but then we heard someone say, ‘He’s got a gun’ so we ran back inside,” said Edward Street resident Lindsey Mondore. “It was crazy.”

Derway said the man who had the gun pointed at him, identified by neighbors as Chris Diehl, was outside and heard the crash, and went to offer help when he was threatened by Lewis as he emerged from the river.

Diehl said Wednesday that the encounter was “unbelievable.” He said the thought the driver was a drunk who drove into the river, and that the man kept repeating, “I’m going to jail.”