UM’s Heather Briggs facing assault charge

Heather Briggs, the University of Maine women’s basketball team’s lone returning senior and most consistent player last season, is scheduled to go on trial Thursday morning for an assault charge, stemming from an incident in mid-April.

Another charge of assault related to the same incident has been dropped by one of the two victims.

Reached at her Biddeford home, Briggs’ only comment was “the whole thing was a misunderstanding and it was settled a while ago.”

While a monetary settlement has been discussed with the victim, 19-year-old Sarah Fleming of Bangor, the trial is scheduled for Thursday at 8:30 a.m., according to the docket at Third District Court in Bangor.

“I’m not sure if it’s been settled or not, but I can say something will happen in front of the judge tomorrow (Thursday),” said Jeffrey Silverstein, an assistant district attorney in the Penobscot County DA’s office.

According to a police report filed by Officer Paul Edwards of the Bangor Police Department, Fleming, who at the time lived at 334 Union St. in Bangor, found a number of messages from Briggs on her answering machine, some of which threatened bodily harm to Fleming.

Briggs and several men showed up at Fleming’s door, according to the report. One of the men kicked in the door, allowing Briggs inside to allegedly assault the victims.

When Briggs was issued a summons for the alleged assaults, she admitted to leaving the messages on the phone, but told Edwards she was dragged into the house and had to use force as self-defense.

The whole incident, Edwards said in his report, was triggered by a relationship between Fleming, a young man, and a female friend of Briggs.

New Maine coach Joanne Palombo was not aware of the court date and said, “I have no comment simply because I don’t have enough information on what happened.”

Briggs averaged 13.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game last season as the Black Bears compiled a 20-9 record, finishing as North Atlantic Conference runnersup.