Man charged after tussle over woman’s bag

Bangor police summoned Scott R. Demmons II, 20, of Bangor on a charge of assault after it was reported he had scuffled with a woman and tried to throw away her luggage Friday afternoon.

Witnesses said it didn’t appear Demmons was trying to steal the 62-year-old woman’s bag, rather just separate it from its owner and dispose of it. The scuffle over the bag took place in the waiting area of the Pickering Square parking garage, where the woman apparently had brushed against Demmons, who then began yelling at her and grabbed her bag, described as having wheels and an extendable handle.

The 62-year-old woman wouldn’t relinquish her bag and the two fell to the floor, reported Officer Steve Jordan. Demmons got up and fled. The woman had an abrasion over her right eye and complained of pain to her chest and knees, where Jordan noted there was dust from the struggle on the floor.

Located on Exchange Street and identified as the attacker by two of the witnesses, Demmons claimed he took “the old lady’s bag” to prevent her from hitting more people with it. He told Officer Chris Blanchard that he didn’t intend to hurt her nor did he intend for her to fall onto the ground.

It wasn’t the Welcome Wagon that greeted a 22-year-old man shortly after his return to Veazie from incarceration in Texas.

It was the police, the same who were responsible for the arrest of Christopher Cocchiaro one year earlier and who discovered that Cocchiaro was hiding out from Upshaw County, Texas, authorities. They wanted him on a probation violation and were willing to extradite him.

To help him elude authorities in Texas and Maine, Cocchiaro went by the name Matthew Laney and claimed he was three years younger than he was. His deception was uncovered after police in Veazie learned he might not have been forthcoming with them, and Detective Andrew Whitehouse submitted the man’s fingerprints to the FBI. The results came back a match between Cocchiaro and Laney.

Last summer, Cocchiaro was returned to Texas. He came back to Veazie earlier this month, and on March 23, Whitehouse visited 11 Flagg St. where Cocchiaro’s mother lives. The reason for the visit was that Cocchiaro had not paid the fines on the three charges he pleaded guilty to last year: failure to give correct name and address to a police officer, falsifying physical evidence, and representing another’s license as his own.

A vacant waterfront building that Bangor City Hall hopes to revitalize isn’t quite vacant. Part of the former meat packing plant is home to a 39-year-old man whom police have arrested several times in recent weeks, including Thursday afternoon.

Called to the Kobritz building on Railroad Street for a report of three men damaging the building, Officers James Dearing and Steve Jordan discovered that one of the men was Peter Wing, who three years earlier had squared off with Dearing outside St. Joseph Hospital, Wing wielding a sign pole and Dearing ordering him to drop it at gunpoint.

The Kobritz building, which is owned by the city, is posted “no trespassing,” although Wing claimed that his “residence” was beneath the loading dock, according to the police reports. Five beers were nearby, two of them full, three half-full.

Out on bail three times since Feb. 21, Wing was prohibited from drinking or possessing alcohol. Wing denied drinking, although the officers reported that Wing was unsteady on his feet and showed other signs of intoxication, including glassy eyes and slurred speech.

The officers arrested Wing, charging him with violation of conditions of release and criminal trespass.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli