Bath police arrested a man who now faces multiple charges after an alleged confrontation with police early Friday morning.
Officers went to Mechanic Street around 1 a.m. after receiving multiple reports of a person yelling and playing loud music, according to a statement from police.
Police found a car playing music parked outside of a home. When officers went to the door of the residence, they met a male resident who was later identified as Antonio Steffon, 26, of Bath. Police said they backed away from the house after noticing that Steffon was holding a sledgehammer. Steffon then allegedly smashed a window in the door to the home, according to police.
Officers convinced him to put the sledgehammer down and step outside, according to police. Police said the officers were able to calm him down and gave him a warning about the noise. Police then left the property but remained in the area.
A few minutes later, the noise allegedly started again. When officers returned to the house, Steffon was “wearing a ballistic helmet and a body armor plate carrier decked out with knives, standing in his yard,” according to a statement from Bath Police Chief Andrew Booth. “The man assumed a fighting stance and resumed his belligerence toward officers.”
Two officers from the Bath Police Department and a deputy from the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office approached Steffon at gunpoint and with tasers, according to police. Officers physically restrained and handcuffed Steffon after he refused to follow verbal commands. Steffon also allegedly resisted the officers’ attempts to put him in a police cruiser and continued to act out physically and verbally during the drive to Two Bridges Regional Jail.
No one was injured during the altercation but one officer’s eyeglasses were broken in the scuffle, according to police.
Steffon was charged with disorderly conduct, a class D misdemeanor, refusal to submit to arrest, a class D misdemeanor, and criminal mischief, a class E misdemeanor. Class D crimes are punishable by up to 364 days incarceration and a $2,000 fine and class E crimes are punishable by up to six months incarceration and a $1,000 fine, according to the Maine Attorney General’s Office.
Steffon remained at Two Bridges Regional Jail awaiting bail as of Friday. His court date was set for Jan. 4, 2022.
“Situations like these can become deadly,” Booth wrote in a statement Friday. “I commend the officers’ performance in their duties to safely take this subject into custody without anyone getting hurt. They used teamwork, training, and good tactics to both de-escalate and effect the arrest of an intoxicated subject looking for a fight.”
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