Police subdue out-of-control man at EMMC

Police said a transient man who went to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor looking for a psychological examination went “ballistic” inside an exam room, tearing off a faucet and swinging it at the staff.

Shawab Jenkins, 25, entered the hospital shortly before 4 p.m. Wednesday and told medical staff in the emergency room that he wasn’t taking his medications and wanted to be taken to The Acadia Hospital, according to Bangor Police Officer Chris Desmond.

Jenkins changed into a hospital gown for the psychological examination necessary before he could be admitted to Acadia but went out of control when staff began to examine him, Desmond said.

Jenkins ripped off a door from a medicine cabinet, scattering debris. He then removed a metal faucet and began flailing it about, forcing hospital staff in the room to back away quickly and close the door. When police arrived, hospital personnel were holding the door closed.

Jenkins proved more cooperative with police, complying with their orders to lay down and allowing hospital staff to restrain and sedate him. Police charged Jenkins with criminal mischief and took him to The Acadia Hospital.

A 40-year-old Bangor woman tried to claim she was the one driving a car she had been in, not her intoxicated husband whose license is suspended.

But the police didn’t believe her.

In addition to seeing her walk from the passenger seat around the parked car and into the driver’s seat, Bangor police said her husband admitted to driving from the Holiday Inn on Odlin Road to the Irving Mainway convenience store parking lot where police found them.

Danny L. Mercier, 42, was charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants, being a habitual offender and possession of a suspended license.

The initial call that prompted the arrest late Tuesday night was a report of a man who may have threatened his wife. There were some indications that the man may have been armed.

After circling the hotel, Bangor police were waved down by a woman who told them a car had just left and was headed toward Bangor International Airport. The police followed and pulled into the Irving station near the car they were searching for.

Mercier showed signs of being intoxicated, including being unsteady on his feet, swaying and eyes that were glassy and bloodshot. He complained to Officer Myron Warner that he had driven only from the Holiday Inn to the Irving station.

Back at the hotel, an employee told police that earlier Mercier had been looking for his wife and at one point remarked that he had a .45-caliber handgun in his pocket, although in police reports there was no indication of a gun being found.

A 53-year-old Milford man was charged this week in connection with a March 11 hit-and-run accident in Old Town after investigators literally pieced together the evidence to link him to the scene.

In interviews with Old Town police, David Rustin admitted to driving on South Main Street in the same area where the accident occurred about the time of the accident, but he claimed he didn’t remember striking another vehicle, Sgt. Travis Roy said this week. Rustin told police he had been drinking that night.

But Rustin’s Jeep Cherokee matched the description of the vehicle that motorist Christine Gosselin, 36, said crossed the centerline into the northbound lane and struck her car. Gosselin and her two passengers, a 17-year-old and a 3-year-old, were not injured in the accident, Roy said.

Police were led to Rustin after being tipped off that Rustin’s vehicle had been damaged and may be the vehicle they were seeking in relation to the incident. Roy said both vehicles were brought to the police station and the Jeep had damage to its front quarter-panel and tire, which coincided with damage to the driver’s side rear quarter-panel and bumper on Gosselin’s 2002 Saturn.

Pieces from the metal wheel trim ring and a broken fender flare fit on the Jeep like a puzzle, although at first police noted that a piece of the fender flare about the size of an egg was missing.

Roy returned to the accident scene on South Main Street near Sawyer Street and while searching again found the missing piece that had been left behind in the darkness March 11 when he said the priority had been to try and locate the errant motorist.

Rustin was charged with leaving the scene of a property-damage accident and failure to report a property-damage accident by the quickest means.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli