Police clear hundreds off street to safety

ELLSWORTH – At the height of Monday’s hour-long standoff, hundreds of people lined both sides of Main Street to watch events unfold.

People had come downtown Monday to finish their Christmas shopping at the range of specialty and family-owned businesses that line the busy street. Police hollered at some people who were too close, and they eventually emptied the upper portion of the street of all spectators.

Lise Desrochers of Orland was driving west toward Bucksport when Rodney Williams sped down Bridge Hill in the Waldo County cruiser he had hijacked Monday morning while being returned to a South Windham prison.

Desrochers said she saw Williams strike other cars on his way through the busy intersection at Water and Main streets, then slam the vehicle into the Hancock Travel storefront on his way up Main Street.

Desrochers said she watched Williams flee the vehicle and run up the street.

Police went door to door up and down Main Street, evacuating businesses. A group of about 20 youngsters waiting next door for the start of the movie at The Grand Auditorium was hurried down the sidewalk to safety.

Some people were ushered into the Riverside Cafe, a block away at 151 Main St., where they were locked inside until Williams surrendered and was handcuffed.

“We were held here for about an hour and a half,” said waiter Ben Layman. “We locked the doors and huddled around the windows to see what we could see.”

A woman who declined to give her name was downtown to take her daughter to lunch and finish their holiday shopping when the standoff occurred. They didn’t get to do either.

“No shopping today,” she said.