Man accused of assaulting girlfriend

Bangor police charged a Boynton Street man with domestic assault after it was reported he choked his girlfriend, who is seven months pregnant.

Nigel Hall’s pregnant girlfriend came to the Bangor police station Tuesday afternoon, a short time after the alleged assault by her 20-year-old boyfriend. The 19-year-old woman told Officer Catherine Rumsey that the assault occurred while she was trying to talk to Hall about their relationship.

As he washed the dishes, Hall kept repeating that he didn’t want to talk to her about it, she said. The girlfriend admitted she may have been yelling at him while they were in the kitchen.

Suddenly, Hall turned around and grabbed her by the throat, she told police. He then shoved her onto the couch and, kneeling on her, continued to choke her. After a few moments he released his grip. After gagging, the woman threw up in a trash can and on the floor.

During the incident, the woman felt a sharp pain in her lower left abdomen and some cramps in her uterus, she told Rumsey. She was taken by ambulance to Eastern Maine Medical Center and later released after the hospital determined that the baby was fine.

At 26 Boynton St., Hall indicated that his girlfriend had become violent and showed Rumsey where she had thrown a cup of iced coffee at him as well as where she knocked some things off the breakfast bar, breaking at least one glass.

“I admit it, I got mad and I choked her,” he told Rumsey, adding that once he realized what he was doing, he became scared and let go of her. Hall showed Rumsey a scar on his upper right chest where he said his girlfriend had previously stabbed him with a key.

A Bangor man suffering from Huntington’s disease – a genetic, degenerative disease of the nervous system – was arrested Friday afternoon and charged with assaulting his wife.

Several times the arresting officers gave Joseph Pechinski, 57, the choice of going to jail or going to Eastern Maine Medical Center, where he could be seen by someone. Pechinski chose the former and was taken to Penobscot County Jail on a charge of assault.

Pechinski hadn’t been taking the medications prescribed to him in July, his wife told Officer Jason McAmbley. A specialist in Massachusetts had warned his wife that without the medications, Pechinski could become dangerous and that she should take steps to prepare herself in case it did happen, according to the police report. The effects of the disease include progressive dementia with bizarre involuntary movements, according to a medical reference book.

Pechinski told police that because of the disease, his life is becoming more limited and he’s frustrated. He said his prescribed medication is experimental and that it might kill him.

Pechinski has had mood swings in the past – some of them violent – Pechinski’s wife told police, but this was the first time she was injured.

According to the police report, Pechinski tried to interfere with his wife as she was getting into her car, and he grabbed her purse and went back to their Pine Street home, pulling her with him. As he entered the home, he slammed the door behind him, catching her left middle finger in the process, according to the police report. Her finger was purple and swollen, McAmbley reported.

A man wanted in Tennessee was arrested in Bangor on Thursday night after police were tipped off that he could be located at a residence on March Street.

Officers George Spencer and James Dearing, on bike patrol, monitored the home at 22 March St. and reported that at 11:30 p.m., a pickup truck with three people pulled into the driveway. The driver matched the description of 46-year-old David W. Woodall, who was wanted in Tennessee on a parole violation.

But the driver gave Spencer letters from his pocket – including one bearing letterhead from the Veterans Administration – that suggested he was actually a man named Samuel H. Stewart. Spencer had the man roll up his right pant leg and checked for a scar Woodall was known to have, while Dearing checked the man’s wallet.

The scar was where it was supposed to be, behind the knee, and Dearing found a birth certificate and Tennessee photo identification card with Woodall’s name on them, although they had different birth years on them, the police report stated. One indicated that Woodall was 45 years old, the other 47.

Woodall was taken to Penobscot County Jail, where he was processed and prepared for extradition.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli