A Cherryfield man was arrested Sunday morning at Benjamin’s Tavern in Bangor after he reportedly tried to assault a police officer.

Bangor police Officer Robert Hutchings Jr. wrote in his police report that Derek Lapointe, 22, came at him in a threatening way outside Benjamin’s. Hutchings was there in response to a call of a fight outside the bar.

Hutchings wrote that he had to push Lapointe away and warned the man to calm down or he would be arrested. Lapointe responded by saying, “I just came back from the desert from protecting [expletive] people like you,” the officer’s report said.

Lapointe continued to antagonize Hutchings and eventually struck the officer in the chest and left cheek, the officer’s report stated. At that point, Hutchings and two other officers subdued Lapointe, who continued to fight violently and was shot with pepper spray.

Lapointe was taken to Penobscot County Jail and was charged with disorderly conduct and assault.

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Two youths playing with a lighter and gasoline started a small fire Sunday afternoon at an Old Town apartment building, but no significant damage was reported.

Lt. Mark Graffam of the Old Town Fire Department did not release the juveniles’ names or ages and was not sure if they would be charged. No one was injured, he said.

Graffam said Orono’s fire department assisted with the call and the fire was contained in about 15 minutes.

The fire caused no structural damage, but Graffam said some of the building’s vinyl siding may have to be replaced. The owner was contacted was assessing the damage for insurance purposes, the lieutenant said.

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A waiter at Geaghan’s Restaurant in Bangor called police Saturday evening after witnessing a couple leave without paying their bill.

Officer Eric Tourtelotte’s police report said the restaurant employee told him an unidentified couple walked out of the restaurant and across the street into Bass Park – leaving their $35.56 bill behind.

Tourtelotte searched briefly in the area but didn’t find anyone matching the description. The officer’s police report also said a clerk at the Main Street Inn, which is adjacent to Geaghan’s, said two people matching the couple’s description tried to sneak into an empty hotel room earlier in the day.

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Bangor police are looking for a local man who allegedly assaulted his wife at the Bangor Mall on Friday.

Officer Robert Hutchings Jr. spoke to a 19-year-old Bangor woman shortly after the incident. She told the officer that her husband, Scott Hankins, bounced her head off a concrete wall twice while the couple argued inside the mall, Hutchings’ police report stated.

Hankins was gone by the time the officer arrived. The woman told Hutchings that her husband had assaulted her on another occasion, an incident that required 12 staples in her scalp, the officer’s report said.

A warrant for Scott Hankins has been issued on charges of domestic assault. Hutchings wrote that Hankins is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 180 pounds. He last was seen wearing black pants and a white shirt.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Eric Russell