A college student from Egypt claimed he was arrested Thursday because of his nationality and race, but Bangor police said it was because he was intoxicated and driving with a suspended license.

Bassem Amin, 21, a Husson College student from Egypt, drove through an intersection with a blinking red light early Thursday morning, something that was seen by Bangor police Officer Chris Desmond, who was approaching the intersection at Ohio and Griffin streets.

Stopped farther down on Ohio Street at about 1:40 a.m. Thursday, Amin denied drinking and claimed he was coming from the store, according to the police report. Desmond reported the man swayed while standing and he showed other signs of being intoxicated. Also, Amin’s license was suspended.

The officer reported that Amin became belligerent and broke free from the officer’s grasp as they were walking toward the cruiser.

The motorist also accused the officer of being a racist and for arresting him just because he was Egyptian.

He was taken to Penobscot County Jail.

An Old Town woman told Bangor police this week that when she went to the pharmacy to get a refill on her prescription, she found someone else had beaten her to it.

The pharmacist at Brooks Pharmacy on Union Street described the person who signed for the Alprazolam, a drug used to treat anxiety disorders, as being a thin, short woman with stringy blond to brown hair. The woman whose drugs were taken told Bangor police Officer Rob Angelo that she knew who took them, an associate who had recently spent a few days with her at her home.

The woman identified was Terri Nichols, 35, of Bangor, who spoke to Angelo on Tuesday and who admitted to signing for the prescription drugs and then selling them. But Nichols said there was more to the story: The pills were payment for money the other woman owed her.

Nichols said that the other woman told her if that if she couldn’t come up with what she owed Nichols, then Nichols could get the refill to do with as she wished.

Angelo summoned Nichols on a charge of acquiring drugs by deception.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli