Pupils moved indoors to avoid suspicious man

Pupils from State Street School in Brewer were moved indoors Friday morning by school officials after reports that a suspicious man was on the campus, Superintendent Daniel Lee said.

“Before school started it was reported a man was going through cars” at the school, he said. “They decided, as a precaution, they would have the students, instead of playing outside, go inside the gym.”

The man was reportedly muttering to himself, but didn’t make any threats. He was seen walking toward Doyle Field, but when Brewer police officers arrived no one was found. (Nok-Noi Ricker, BDN)

Though it caused a tense moment, a taped-up box found unattended at Bangor International Airport early Friday turned out to be just luggage.

Airport officials contacted city police at 12:23 a.m. regarding the box. “It started out looking suspicious. It was out of place, but it ended up being a piece of carry-on luggage,” said Sgt. Jim Buckley of the Bangor Police Department.

An airline employee identified the box as luggage from a recently landed plane, Buckley said. The Police Department’s bomb squad was not deployed, he said. (Dawn Gagnon, BDN)

The U.S. Coast Guard responded Friday to an incident off Deer Isle that left two vehicles soggy and in need of an assist from a third vehicle.

Petty Officer Shawn Robbins said the incident began about 3:45 p.m. when a pickup truck driver got stranded on a sandbar off Deer Isle at low tide.

The driver, whose name was not immediately available, called a tow truck to help get him back to dry land, but that vehicle also became stuck, Robbins said.

The tide then came back in, submerging both vehicles. Robbins said another, larger tow truck was called to the scene, but had to wait for the tide to recede before pulling the pickup and the first tow truck back. That finally occurred at 8:21 p.m.

Though a small amount of fuel escaped from the submerged vehicles, leaving a slight sheen on the water, an environmental cleanup was not required, Robbins said. (Dawn Gagnon, BDN)