EMMC patient arrested for fighting with staff

An Orrington man was charged with assault after it was reported that he became combative with staff and security at Eastern Maine Medical Center when they refused to increase his pain medication.

Bangor police officers were called to the fifth floor of the Bangor hospital at 12:40 a.m. Monday. Rounding the corner to the wing, Officers Rob Angelo and Chad Foley found 38-year-old Peter Kopteros the focus of attention of nurses and security on the floor. Kopteros was holding a fight stance, his hands clenched, and he was yelling, according to the police report.

The officers were told he already had assaulted one security guard, apparently upset that the staff would not give him more pain medication.

Angelo tried to calm Kopteros, telling him that he would try to get him more medication if he would just sit down. Kopteros turned and headed for his room instead and became belligerent after the police officers followed him a short distance.

Foley said that when Kopteros tried to move past Angelo, the officer put his hands up in an effort to stop him. Kopteros responded by making a fist and cocking his arm. Each officer took an arm and wrestled Kopteros to the floor where he was handcuffed.

After being cleared by the hospital staff to leave, Kopteros was taken to Penobscot County Jail and later released on bail.

A transient man who called police to report that someone had stolen some of his medications was taken into custody himself when police determined he had been drinking alcohol in violation of his probation.

Christopher A. Post, 33, called Bangor police about 11:30 p.m. Sunday to complain that a friend he previously had given some of his prescription medications to had taken the last 10 of his pills without his permission.

Officer Myron Warner declined to pursue the charge, noting among other things that by giving the medication to the friend, Post could be considered to be trafficking in the prescription medication.

In talking with Post, Warner suspected that Post was intoxicated. Post claimed he had just finished serving two weeks in jail and wasn’t on probation, but Post’s probation officer asked Warner to bring Post into the station for an Intoxilyzer test. The test registered Post’s blood alcohol content at 0.27 percent. Upon direction from the probation officer, Post was taken to Penobscot County Jail.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli