An Oakland man was arrested and charged with multiple offenses after police said he struck a person in a wheelchair on Sebasticook Bridge in Winslow as people were leaving the town fireworks display and then allegedly fought with officers who tried to keep him from driving into more people.

Darryl Pratt, 80, of 146 High St. in Oakland, was charged with aggravated reckless conduct, two counts of assault, two counts of criminal threatening, refusing to submit to arrest and leaving the scene of a personal injury accident.

The accident happened at 9:46 p.m. Saturday after the fireworks concluded and several thousand people were leaving Fort Halifax Park. Police Chief Shawn O’Leary said that Pratt, driving a car, struck a person in a wheelchair on the bridge.

The person in the wheelchair, who was not identified, did not need hospitalization.

Officers were already at the scene, but when they tried to talk to Pratt, “he became verbally confrontational towards the officers,” O’Leary said in a press release.

At one point Pratt jumped into his car, put it in drive and attempted to leave even though several pedestrians were in front of the car, O’Leary said. Two officers tried to restrain Pratt “fearing he would drive over several pedestrians.”

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O’Leary said that Pratt “physically resisted” the officers and “assaulted them several times.”

He said a bystander got in the car through a rear door and turned it off.

O’Leary said if it hadn’t been for the actions of the officers and bystander, “this would have been a tragic incident with several individuals being struck by Pratt.”

Pratt was eventually physically forced out of the vehicle and arrested.

He was taken to the Winslow Police Department and then to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta because of injuries sustained in the arrest. According to Sgt. Haley Fleming, Pratt was released early Sunday morning with “several” summonses to appear in court.


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