Golf cart punch leads to chase, arrest

LEWISTON — One teenager was arrested and another was being sought Wednesday night after police said the pair busted out a window on a golf cart manned by Bates College security agents.

Police arrested 18-year-old Justin Edwards of Casco after a brief scuffle near the corner of Ware and Main streets, a short distance from the college campus.

Police said Edwards was caught after leading several Bates security officers and local cops on a foot chase. At some point while running, the pair split up.

Police said Officer Jeremy Somma caught up with Edwards along Ware Street and ordered him to stop.

“Instead, he took off running,” said Lewiston police Sgt. Danny LaChance. “With Officer Somma hot on his heels, he entered a residential building by running through a screened-in porch.”

Edwards then exited the building and scaled a fence before he was tackled by Somma as other officers rushed in. Edwards was shocked with a taser in a driveway on Main Street after police said he refused to submit to arrest. He was charged with two counts of criminal mischief and single counts of criminal trespass, refusing to submit to arrest, possession of drug paraphernalia and being an intoxicated minor.

Police said the incident began at about 7:30 p.m. when a pair of Bates security officers patrolling in the cart stopped two teenagers to warn them about urinating in public.

“At some point, one of the guys punched the windshield on the golf cart,” LaChance said.

Neither of the Bates officers was hurt.

The 7:30 p.m. incident sent security officers running after the suspects through the wooded residential area between Ware Street and Mountain Avenue.

Edwards, who suffered cuts and scrapes in the chase and ensuing scuffle with police, was checked out by paramedics before he was taken to the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.

Meanwhile, police who examined Edwards’ cell phone said they had learned the identity of the second suspect. That teen also listed an address in Casco but police said both suspects had been staying in Lewiston in recent days.