EDITOR’S NOTE: Charges against Ronan were dropped on Sept. 8 2015, according to court documents.
FREEPORT, Maine — A Glenburn man was charged with felony aggravated assault Saturday afternoon after allegedly pushing a woman with his truck while she stood trying to reserve a parking spot at L.L. Bean.
John Ronan is scheduled to appear in Portland Unified Court to face the Class B charge on Dec. 16.
Freeport police and rescue went to the parking lot near the L.L. Bean Hunting and Fishing store at about 12:45 Saturday after a 36-year-old Massachusetts woman said Ronan had “pushed her back about two feet” with his truck as she tried to reserve the space for her husband, Freeport Police Chief Gerald Schofield said Tuesday.
“The lady and her husband were circling through the lot to find a parking space, and when they noticed a space, she got out of the car to go reserve the space while her husband circled around,” Schofield said. “While she was standing in front of the space, another vehicle pulled up and drove up to her and touched her. She put her hands on the truck to brace herself, and the truck pulled forward and pushed her back about two feet.”
Schofield said L.L. Bean security cameras caught the incident.
“It doesn’t show that the truck struck her, but it shows it was very close to her,” he said.
The driver of the truck did not park in the spot but drove away. The woman got part of the license plate and described the truck to police, who located Ronan’s truck in a parking lot on the other side of Main Street. They arrested him when he returned to the truck.
Ronan told police the two had “a verbal altercation,” and she refused to move when he asked her to. He denied pushing her with his truck.
The woman, from Melrose, Massachusetts, told police the next day she was treated at Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta on Saturday night for injury to an existing hernia.
Ronan’s attorney, Walter McKee, said in an email Tuesday, “Mr. Ronan absolutely denies that he ever assaulted anyone. Even the video apparently shows this. How this could ever be an aggravated assault case is completely beyond me given the undisputed video evidence. You can expect a very vigorous defense here.”