WINTHROP — Police said a local man used his own blood to deface the police station before trying to dismantle the department’s generator.

Arno A. Bittues, 52, of Winthrop, was arrested Monday on charges of aggravated criminal mischief and refusing to submit to arrest.

Bittues was being held Wednesday morning at the Kennebec County jail in Augusta.

Winthrop Police Capt. Ryan Frost said Bittues went to the police station on Town Hall Lane around 8 p.m. Monday. Bittues, who had a cut on his hand before he arrived, went around the building near the sally port, where police cruisers enter the station, and began wiping blood from his hand onto a nearby door.

“We do not know where he was injured, but it was sometime before he got here,” Frost said.

Moments later, Bittues went to the department’s outdoor, emergency generator and began removing parts, Frost said.

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“He started taking parts off, but it still would have been functional,” Frost said. “If we had not discovered it, it could have posed a problem.”

Winthrop Police Officer Kenneth Tabor confronted Bittues and he ran off on foot, Frost said. There was a short chase before Tabor caught up and tried to arrest Bittues, who was combative. Nobody was injured in the brief scuffle.

Bittues was accompanied by police as Winthrop Ambulance took him to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta to be treated for his hand injury, Frost said. Bittues was taken to jail after that.

Frost said police don’t know why Bittues acted the way he did. He said Bittues is believed to have been under the influence of alcohol and perhaps drugs.

Police in Georgia contacted Winthrop Police after Bittues was arrested. Frost said there is a warrant for his arrest and officials in that state are deciding whether to extradite him.

Online records indicate Bittues was arrested by Tybee Island, Ga., police in February 2012 on charges of disorderly conduct and interference with government property.

“Part of that was damaging governmental property, Frost said. “I believe it was a jail cell.”

Craig Crosby — 621-5642
ccrosby@centralmaine.com


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