FARMINGTON — A local man was seriously injured early Tuesday morning when he fell 40 feet onto pavement from the roof of the Emery Community Arts Building at the University of Maine at Farmington.
Charges are pending against Devon Pease, 21, upon his release from the hospital, said Sgt. Brock Caton, interim chief of police for the UMF Department of Public Safety.
A second man, Joshua Farthing, 25, of Panama City, Fla., was issued a summons for criminal trespass and released after Farmington Fire and Rescue used a ladder truck to help get him down from the arts center, Caton said.
Pease and Farthing are not students at UMF, he said.
The two men climbed onto the roof of Dearborn Gym at about 2 a.m. Tuesday. Deputy Colt Sleaster of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department was patrolling on Middle Street when he saw the two men on the gym roof, he said.
He notified Officer Levi Gould of the campus police department and ordered the two men to come down, but they ignored the order and ran onto the roof of the Emery Arts Center, which is attached to Dearborn Gym, Caton said.
Gould got access to the roof to find the men.
“In an attempt to evade the officer, Pease attempted to climb down the north side of the building,” Caton said. “Pease lost his grip and fell approximately 40 feet to the pavement below, sustaining serious injuries.”
Deputy Sleaster made it to Pease’s side within seconds of his fall and requested an ambulance. Farmington Police Officer Justin Blais arrived and stayed with Pease until NorthStar ambulance paramedics arrived and transported him to Franklin Memorial Hospital.
Sleaster and Gould eventually found Farthing on the roof of the Emery Community Arts Center.
abryant@sunjournal.com
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