ROCKLAND — A 62-year-old Bangor man is in custody after a nearly five-hour standoff with police at a downtown hotel Sunday.
Timothy N. St. Thomas was arrested shortly before 1 p.m. at the Trade Winds Inn and charged with criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, two counts of disorderly conduct, and criminal trespass, according to Rockland Police Chief Bruce Boucher.
There were no injuries.
More charges – including creating a police standoff – could be filed against St. Thomas.
St. Thomas was to be taken to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport by police before being transferred to the Knox County Jail in Rockland.
The standoff began about 8 a.m. Sunday when officers were called by hotel staff to have St. Thomas removed from the hotel. Officers had been called there at 4:30 a.m. when he was being disorderly, according to police, but they managed to calm him down.
When officers arrived the second time, he came at them with a club, police said. The man then locked himself in a room.
The chief said that because officers did not know if he had any other weapons, they decided to hold off trying to immediately enter the room.
The section of the hotel where St. Thomas was located on the fourth floor was cleared, but otherwise guests remained in their rooms. People could also come out of the hotel throughout the standoff, get into their vehicles and leave.
Officers from the Maine State Police tactical team tried to talk with St. Thomas, but except for one time when he came out onto the balcony of his room, he did not communicate with them. During that time, he was ranting about a variety of things, saying he was a veteran and wanted more respect. He also said that all he wanted earlier in the morning was food and the dining area was not open, so he got the food himself.
William Pagnano, a local attorney who is also a justice of the peace, signed both a search warrant and an arrest warrant for police before they entered the room to arrest St. Thomas.
The Trade Winds is on Park Drive across from the Rockland police station. The hotel has 138 rooms and 15 suites.
Harbor Park was closed off as police vehicles staged in back of the station and out of view of the hotel room where St. Thomas was located. Park Drive from Main to Winter streets was also closed shortly before state police went inside the room.
St. Thomas is likely to make his initial appearance in Knox County Unified Court on Monday.
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