A man from the Northeast Kingdom will be in court Monday afternoon on charges of threatening people with a machete and escaping in a police car.

Jeremy Way, 51, of Lunenburg is accused of swinging a machete at two people on River Road shortly after 1:00 p.m. Friday. No one was hurt.

Way was apparently handcuffed, and inside a police cruiser, while an Essex County Sheriff’s Department deputy gathered evidence. That’s when Vermont State Police say Way got out of the handcuffs and drove off.

Police found the cruiser on Maillett Road shortly afterward; it had reportedly been damaged. Way was in a wooded area near the car, and officers took him back into custody without further incident.

He’s charged with two counts of aggravated domestic assault and one count of escaping from police. As of Saturday evening, he was being held at Northeast Regional Correctional in St. Johnsbury on $50,000 bail.