WATERVILLE — Eight people were arrested early Sunday morning after a fight outside the Temple Street Tavern in which police stunned one man and used pepper spray on others to break up the argument.

The fight took place in the middle of Temple Street and was described by police as a “dangerous situation” that drew law enforcement from four agencies to the scene, according to Sgt. Lincoln Ryder of the Waterville Police Department.

Sgt. Brian Gardiner of the Waterville Police Department first spotted a large crowd gathered in the street at around 1:15 a.m. Sunday and stopped, Ryder said.

“He could hear elevated voices and found there was in fact a fight occurring between three individuals in the middle of the road with a large group that had gathered and were yelling,” Ryder said. “Some were trying to intervene in the fight while others were yelling and taunting.”

Gardiner warned the three men involved in the fight to stop, and two of the three adhered to the warning, Ryder said.

A third man, Henry Haylett, did not listen to the warning. Although Gardiner tried to restrain him, he pulled away in an attempt to go after the other two, Ryder said. A Taser was used to get Haylett under control, and Gardiner called for help from additional officers.

A total of 10 officers responded to the scene, including five from Waterville, two from Oakland, two from Winslow and one from Clinton.

“It was obviously a dangerous situation with people in the crowd being intoxicated and many of them upset about the fight, the arrest or any of those circumstances,” Ryder said. “The other officers tried to keep the crowd back, and many were arrested for failure to disperse.”

Gardiner did not have an estimate on how many people were in the crowd or participated in the fight. He said many of them dispersed after being warned by police, including two of the men originally involved in the fight, but others who did not were arrested.

Haylett, 32, of Waterville, was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, fighting and refusing to submit to arrest.

Also arrested Sunday and charged with failure to disperse were Kacee Standring, 28, of Waterville; Tracey Bragdon, 48, of Waterville; Jammie O’Clair, 39, of Waterville; Luis Rodriguez, 40, of Waterville; and Crystal Diaz, 29, of Waterville.

Others who refused to submit to arrest were sprayed with pepper spray, Ryder said.

Thomas Schanz, 37, of Waterville, and Nicholas Boulette, 36, of Rome, were both arrested and charged with failure to disperse and refusal to submit to arrest or detention.

All except Schanz were released on bail Sunday.

There were no injuries to officers and no known injuries to any others, Ryder said. He said the arrest process tied up officers until about five or six in the morning.

The fight comes just a few weeks after officers arrested six people downtown on Oct. 17 after a brawl outside the Spirits bar in the basement of the Silver Street Tavern.

Ryder said he didn’t know how the Sunday morning fight started, but said that in both cases the fights were escalated by intoxication.

“I think generally the circumstances are the same,” he said. “People are fighting, they’re intoxicated and they don’t follow the directions of law enforcement. Arrests end up being the result because that’s the only way we can gain control of the situation. Thankfully in this particular case at least a portion of the crowd did adhere to the warnings and disperse and additional arrests were not necessary, but eight people being arrested at once is a lot of people.”

Rachel Ohm — 612-2368

rohm@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @rachel_ohm

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