Participants in the Ironman 70.3 Maine run Sunday down Water Street in Hallowell while automobile traffic is at a standstill. Police waved vehicles through during lulls in the race. A 34-year-old woman from Belmont was arrested Sunday for hitting a police officer with her car after becoming irate at the delay. Ashley Allen/Kennebec Journal
HALLOWELL — A Belmont woman was arrested on a variety of charges Sunday after she hit an officer with her vehicle because she was frustrated with a traffic jam caused by a triathlon, according to officials.
Katherine D. Kelley, 34, was arrested on charges of failing to follow emergency directions of a police officer, driving to endanger, felony-level assault on a police officer and failing to follow a traffic control device, according to Christopher Giles, the interim police chief in Hallowell.
Giles said city police officers had stopped vehicle traffic on Water Street, across from Academy Street, to allow a group of Ironman 70.3 Maine runners to cross Water Street, when Kelley, who was driving southbound, became irate at the delay.
“She was commanded by an officer to stop because of a potential safety hazard to several runners,” Giles said. “She briefly stopped, had an exchange with the officer where she refused to comply with those commands and drove her vehicle at the officer, striking the officer in the leg.”
The officer, whom Giles declined to identify, sought medical treatment for a minor injury.
During the race, one lane had been coned off for Ironman 70.3 Maine competitors to complete the final running leg of the competition, and two lanes were coned off for traffic, one in each direction.
No other similar incident was reported across the cities and towns through which the course of this year’s Ironman 70.3 Maine competition ran.
The swimming leg of the race took place in a stretch of the Kennebec River.
The cycling portion of the race followed a 56-mile loop through Augusta, Chelsea, Pittston, Dresden, Richmond, Litchfield, Gardiner, West Gardiner, Hallowell and Farmingdale.
The running leg began with a loop in Augusta, followed by a loop on the west side of the Kennebec River.
Kevin Lully, the deputy police chief in Augusta, where the race began and ended, said Monday no safety concerns were reported in the city.
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