Several Old Port shopkeepers and pedestrians encountered a disturbing sight Friday morning after a man who injured himself left a trail of blood smears over a one-mile route through Portland’s downtown shopping district.
Rescue workers were dispatched to Spring and Center streets in front of the Civic Center at 8:42 p.m. Thursday for a man who had collapsed, said Deputy Fire Chief Keith Gautreau. The man was bleeding from what appeared to be a self-inflicted injury to his arm.
The trail of blood, smeared on shop windows, vehicles, sidewalks and other public property, started near the walking trail by the Narrow Gauge Railway and meandered through the Old Port.
“It was everywhere,” Gautreau said of the blood, which is considered a biohazard and was cleaned from public property by firefighters. Store workers washed business windows that were stained. “He did eventually collapse and that’s where the police found him. Talking to my guys this morning, they were really amazed at how much there was.”
Authorities took the man to a city hospital Thursday night. Gautreau said he was unable to provide the man’s name or condition because of privacy laws.
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