Man dies in Bangor stabbing > Witness saw “tire iron” sticking out of man’s chest

BANGOR — Eric Heath, a man in his early 20s who was from the Bangor area, was apparently stabbed to death in the old Capehart neighborhood Thursday evening after a street fight on Dirigo Drive.

Police are investigating the incident as a potential homicide, said Lt. Don Winslow, deputy chief of the Bangor Police Department. Several witnesses are being interviewed, according to Lt. Tim Reid of the Bangor police.

Heidi Gray, 19, who had been walking to her mother-in-law’s home just before 7 p.m., said, “I saw this guy and he had a tire iron sticking out of his chest.”

Her voice trembling, with blue police lights flashing over neighbors’ faces, she said, “I just kind of stood there. Then everyone heard the fistfight and came out” of their apartments.

“He [Heath] was by the truck,” a Ford pickup parked on the street, “just kind of grabbing the truck and circling around,” she said.

A crowd stood beyond the police barrier, looking at the body lying partially covered with a white sheet, surrounded by blood. Cats ran by the body from time to time, flitting in and out of bright spotlights and darkness.

Tina Hanscom said she saw Heath lying near her father’s truck and went over to take his pulse. “I thought I heard him take a breath, then that was it. I didn’t try to turn him over to see his face — there was too much blood. He was laying the way he fell, face down. I ran into my parents’ [home] and said `Call 911.”‘

Her son, Richard Hanscom, had thought the body was a Halloween trick. A scarecrow leaned on a stoop nearby, and ghosts made of sheets hung from a tree in front of Heath.

“I’m really scared,” Hanscom said miserably.