Bangor man arrested in assault downtown

Bangor police arrested a man after he allegedly beat another man with a metal rod.

At about 4:30 p.m., Officers Michael Brennan, James Buckley and Christopher Blanchard responded to a report of an assault in progress at Pickering Square.

Brennan said he found a man with a head wound who said a stranger accused him of taking his money and swung at him with a metal rod.

Witnesses said they saw the alleged assailant, John Finnegan, 54, of Bangor, hit the victim in the head, shoulders and face with the 3-foot metal rod. Brennan said two witnesses saw Finnegan hit the man in the head even after the man fell to the ground while trying to flee.

Officer Buckley said one witness reported hearing Finnegan say, “Where’s my money?” The witness said Finnegan told him the victim had stolen clothes and $45 from him.

Buckley said another witness heard Finnegan tell the victim, “I’ll show you just how crazy I am.”

Officer Blanchard arrested Finnegan for aggravated assault and criminal threatening.

A Belfast man smashed the rear window of his truck in a four-car pileup in Bangor on Tuesday afternoon.

Maine State Trooper Kyle Willette called the accident a “standard construction zone crash.”

Just before 5 p.m. traffic on Interstate 95 northbound stopped near the Exit 47 on-ramp. A stop sign has been installed on the ramp, and the highway there narrows to one lane for repairs.

Willette said a van driven by Douglas Simmonds of St. John, Newfoundland, and an SUV driven by Jonathan Barban of New London, N.H., both stopped with traffic near the ramp.

A pickup driven by Terry Sawyer of Belfast then rear-ended the SUV and drove it into the van, Willette said.

A Dead River Co. van then rear-ended the pickup, driving it again into the SUV, Willette said.

Barban, driving the SUV, said the second impact was the hardest but did not cause a second impact with the van in front of him.

Basil Camic of Hampden, driver of the Dead River van, said he braced himself and pushed hard on the brake but didn’t feel the van stop.

Willette said the driver of the pickup complained of a bump on his head. The glass of the driver’s side rear window was smashed.

Bangor police arrested a Hudson man on drug and theft charges after he removed a parking boot from his truck Tuesday morning.

Officer Christopher Blanchard said he heard from dispatch at about 9:20 a.m. that a man was seen removing the wheel immobilization device from a truck parked on Main Street. Blanchard pulled the truck over on Hudson Road and spoke to the driver, Kellen Farrow-Wright, 22.

Wright admitted taking the boot off the truck, Blanchard said. He said he left it near the river near Kenduskeag Avenue.

Blanchard said dispatch told him Wright’s driver’s license had been suspended.

Blanchard said he saw a knife clipped to Wright’s pocket and took it for temporary safekeeping. It was a spring-loaded knife, which is illegal to possess in Maine. Blanchard said Wright denied he knew about the law.

Blanchard arrested Wright. He said a search revealed a spoon with burn marks and residue in Wright’s pocket and an unused hypodermic needle in Wright’s jacket. Lt. Ron Gastia found the residue on the spoon tested positive for cocaine.

Wright was charged with possession of scheduled drugs and drug paraphernalia, operating after suspension, trafficking in dangerous knives, theft and theft of services.

Bangor police arrested a Florida man on a federal warrant Tuesday morning.

Officer George Spencer said Fort Lauderdale, Fla., resident Philip Bilbao, 54, had been in phone contact during the past two days with federal agent John Bates in Miami, and turned himself in to Bangor police at about 10:30 a.m.

Bilbao was charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Isaac Kimball