TREMONT – A deputy from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office was hit in the face Monday afternoon by an intoxicated man, who is now cooling his heels in the Hancock County Jail, police officials said.

Donald W. Murphy, 49, of the village of Seal Cove, apparently had violated his bail conditions Sunday night by using liquor. The bail conditions were set after an arrest because of a January traffic offense, Deputy Chris Thornton of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.

Thornton went looking for Murphy about 1:30 p.m. Monday, after hearing he had been drinking Sunday, and found him at his son’s trailer on Kelleytown Road.

“He was extremely intoxicated,” Thornton said. “I told him he was under arrest for violation of his bail conditions, and he just came at me with a flurry of vulgarities and expletives.”

The situation escalated when Murphy refused to submit to arrest, Thornton said.

“He was refusing to go. I grabbed him by the arm. He took one swing,” the deputy said. “I was able to avoid that one. … He hit me with the back of his right hand on the right cheek, and then we went to the ground.”

Murphy’s son and an unidentified man, who was working on a pickup truck in the driveway, came toward the two men on the ground.

“I didn’t trust the situation, so I got up and radioed for help,” Thornton said.

About 10 minutes later, the first backup crew came from Southwest Harbor. A marine patrol officer, Ellsworth officers and Acadia National Park rangers also responded to the alarm.

Before the other officers got to the trailer, Thornton said he worked to keep the situation under control.

“[Murphy] kept approaching me,” he said. “I just held them at bay. … I didn’t trust that if I was to try to take him to the ground again that the other two wouldn’t get involved.”

When Murphy heard the sirens of the approaching police car, he changed his tune and went quietly, Thornton said.

The Tremont man, who refused to have his blood alcohol content tested, is “very familiar” to the deputies, Thornton said. The charges levied against Murphy for Monday’s incident are severe and include bail violation, failure to submit to arrest and assault on an officer.

“I told him, ‘Donny, look. Look at what you caused. You’re in a lot more trouble now than if you’d just sat in my cruiser in the first place,'” Thornton said.

The two men outside the trailer were not charged.

“It’s a situation that really sounds worse than it was,” Thornton said. “It’s a situation that had the potential to get worse. Three-on-one – those aren’t good odds.”