WINSLOW — Emergency crews had to deploy ropes, harnesses and an inflatable boat to rescue a man Tuesday evening from the east bank of the Kennebec River.
During the rescue, a woman was arrested by police after becoming aggressive and interfering with emergency crews who were loading the man into an ambulance on the Waterville side of the river. Dozens of people in Waterville and Winslow witnessed the scene.
Winslow police Officer Brad Hubert, acting on orders from Police Chief Shawn O’Leary, would not identify the man or the woman Tuesday night, and he declined to give additional details about the case or say whether the woman was charged with a crime.
However, officials from the Winslow Fire Department said it was the same man who was rescued from the banks of the river less than two months ago.
On April 8, emergency crews were called to the same part of the river bank after Kevin Lambert, 45, of Winslow, fell down the 40-foot embankment.
According to Winslow Fire Chief David LaFountain, a woman on the Two Cent Bridge alerted emergency officials on Tuesday to an apparently unresponsive man lying on the rocks at the base of the riverbank. Crews were on the scene about 6:30 p.m. treating the man, who was lying on a headboard at the base. About 10 members of the Winslow Fire Department and medics from Delta Ambulance were busy setting up ropes and safety harnesses to deliver additional equipment down the steep embankment to where the man was lying. According to Assistant Winslow Fire Chief Charles Theobald, the man had no apparent injuries.
An inflatable boat from Winslow Rescue was deployed and three of its members took the man across the river to the Waterville side, where the embankment is not as steep. The man was taken out of the boat under the base of the Two-Cent Bridge and taken to a waiting gurney.
At that time, an agitated woman who was apparently an acquaintance of the man rushed up to the gurney in between emergency workers and began calling “Kevin” to the man. When one of the medics took her arm in an attempt to move her aside, the woman yanked it away and swore at the medic, declaring that if he touched her again she would sue him. She then hit him on the arms with her fist.
Crew members were able to move the gurney up the hill, but the woman followed, and as soon as the man was put into the ambulance she began shouting again, demanding the names of the medics. Shortly thereafter, Winslow police Officer Alex Jones, who had responded to the original emergency call, wrestled the woman to the ground, handcuffed her and led her to a waiting squad car to cheers and applause from a crowd that had assembled to watch the scene.
Peter McGuire — 861-9239
pmcguire@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @PeteL_McGuire
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