LIVERMORE FALLS – A man with bloody hands threw a glass pipe he had been smoking into the Androscoggin River on Monday night, then jumped in himself, followed by a police officer.

Police arrested David Cherkis, 38, of Bethel on charges of operating after suspension, possession of a suspended license, possession of drug paraphernalia and refusing to submit to arrest, police Lt. Thomas Gould said Tuesday.

Officers Maurice Drouin and Jason Miller had stopped a vehicle at 9:57 p.m. just over the Veteran’s Memorial bridge in Livermore for a vehicle defect, he said.

When Drouin approached the vehicle, he noticed the driver’s hands were covered with blood, Gould said. Police, who identified the man as Cherkis, asked how his hands became bloody, and he said he accidentally cut himself on battery terminals, Drouin said.

He had a knife, the officer said.

“He threw the knife out of the window of the vehicle after being asked to put it down,” Gould said.

When they told Cherkis he was under arrest for operating after suspension, he rolled up the windows and locked the doors. As officers tried to get him out of the vehicle, Cherkis jumped into the back seat and began smoking a glass pipe containing what police believed to be illegal drugs, Gould said.

Drouin used his baton to smash the rear window of the vehicle, but then Cherkis fled out a door, ran to the Androscoggin River, threw the pipe in and then jumped in himself, Gould said.

He swam to a rock in an inlet, said Drouin, who went into the river after him.

Cherkis eventually returned to the riverbank where police subdued him with a chemical agent similar to pepper spray, Drouin said.

Cherkis was taken to Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn and released on $140 bail Tuesday morning.