BANGOR, Maine — The man charged with assault in a Friday night incident near Essex and Somerset streets is preparing to sue the person who wrote about it on social media and the city councilors who denounced the alleged incident as racially motivated before the police investigation was completed, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Joshua Pendergast, 42, of Bangor was charged Monday with misdemeanor assault. He is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 21 at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor.
“The facts of this incident have been grossly exaggerated, twisted, factually misrepresented and misreported by many — including private individuals, public officials, businesses and the media,” Bangor attorney Christopher Largay said in a statement late Wednesday.
Largay did not name the individuals his client would sue in the statement.
He said that Pendergast will “fight the single misdemeanor charge of assault in a court of law, before a jury of his sensible and rational peers.”
Questions about whether the assault could be classified as a hate crime were raised on social media last weekend by three city councilors before police finished their investigation.
“Those citizen-residents who speak publicly have an obligation to speak the truth about what they saw, heard and/or witnessed, and to describe
The limitations as to what they actually know,” Largay said. “Those public officials who speak under the cloak of their appointed or elected offices have a responsibility to investigate the facts; to talk to all sides; and to listen carefully before making public statements about an incident involving alleged criminality, civil rights violations, acts of hatred and/or race baiting. The citizens and officials did not so act.
“By publicly and loudly dispatching themselve — without waiting for law enforcement to do their jobs — these individuals and officials have let us all down,” Largay said. “By repeating a triple hearsay and such false statements, those that spoke out against Mr. Pendergast and his wife embarrassment, humiliation and other harm to a law-abiding, honest and hard-working local family.
“They are neither bigots, nor racist nor even deeply involved in politics,” Largay said. “They love their children, their family and friends, and this community they call home. Just this weekend, the Pendergasts will become godparents to a minority child, an event that was previously and joyously planned.”
Largay said that neither Pendergast nor his wife, LeTeicia Pendergast, who will be a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, have criminal records. Joshua Pendergast went voluntarily to the Bangor police station to be interviewed about the incident, Largay said.
“These cases are not about politics or race at all, but a sudden rush to judgment and the overwhelming power of the social media maelstrom that can be abused in ill-conceived ways to cause pain, suffering and irreparable consequences,” Largay said.
The Maine attorney general’s office has determined that the alleged assault was not racially motivated, Bangor police spokesman Sgt. Tim Cotton said Wednesday.
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.”
Cotton said Wednesday that Pendergast denied making that statement.
“We remain troubled by the assault Friday night and continue to investigate it,” he 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.
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.