BANGOR, Maine — The Maine attorney general’s office has determined that an assault reported Friday near Essex and Somerset streets was not racially motivated, according to Bangor police spokesman Sgt. Tim Cotton.
Questions about whether the assault could be classified as a hate crime were raised on social media over the weekend by a trio of Bangor City Council members before the police had finished their investigation.
Joshua Pendergast, 42, of Bangor was charged late Monday with misdemeanor assault, but was not arrested. Pendergast is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 21 at the Penobscot Judicial Center on the Class D assault charge.
Two people who came across the victim after the alleged assault said he told them his assailant was wearing a suit and smelled of alcohol when he threw him to the ground and yelled at him “that Trump would deport him,” a previous report said.
Cotton said Wednesday that Pendergast denied making that statement.
“We remain troubled by the assault Friday night and continue to investigate it,” the sergeant said.
Police have not identified the victim.
To bring an action under the Maine Civil Rights Act, the attorney general’s office must have evidence of prohibited conduct and must be able to show that the prohibited conduct was motivated in whole or part by bias based on race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation.
Efforts to reach the civil rights division and the spokesman for the attorney general’s office Wednesday were unsuccessful. Many employees were out of the office for the holiday weekend.
If convicted of the assault, Pendergast faces up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
BDN writer Nok-Noi Ricker contributed to this report.