Portland police have arrested a man suspected of assaulting two women by cutting their arms, leaving superficial lacerations.
There is no indication the incidents, which occurred downtown, were connected to four recent unprovoked assaults in Portland, said David Singer, a department spokesman. No one has been arrested in those incidents.
Police said a woman called 911 Wednesday morning to report that a man had bumped into her in Monument Square and she felt a cut on the back of one arm. Singer said a second woman approached officers minutes after they arrived and reported that she had been cut in a similar way near CVS on Congress Street. Both women were offered treatment at the scene, and one took herself to the hospital.
Police later arrested Saad Zackaria, 26, on charges of simple assault and aggravated assault. The latter is a felony and will require indictment by a grand jury.
Zackaria was booked at the Cumberland County Jail, and his bail was set at $2,500. Singer said the officer connected Zackaria to the suspect’s description because they had interacted the previous day. He declined to describe the weapon but said it was “a sharp object.”
“This sort of erratic and random violence and victimization will simply not be tolerated,” Chief Frank Clark said in a statement. “Kudos go out to our patrol and community policing officers. Their familiarity with their beats and the people on them led to the quick identification and apprehension of this suspect.”
Police are still investigating four random assaults in May and June. Three of those victims were women and one was a man. Two occurred in the city’s West End, and two on Munjoy Hill.
Witnesses or anyone with information regarding the recent assaults are encouraged to contact the police department at (207) 874-8575.
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