LEWISTON — Police said a young man accused of damaging a boiler room at an apartment complex Wednesday night on Oxford Street was still being treated Thursday for injuries suffered in the rampage.
Police said pipes and other equipment at Place Ste. Marie were damaged in the 8:30 p.m. vandalism spree, causing water to gush into the basement and flood several apartments on the building’s south side.
Investigators said several thousand dollars worth of damage was done to the building, although an exact figure was not available.
There are about 40 apartments in the four-story building that sits between Oxford and Lincoln streets. It is managed by H&S Reny Property Management of Lewiston.
Police and fire crews were called to the scene when alarms sounded at the building. When police arrived, they found a board ripped off a basement window, glass smashed and significant damage in the boiler room.
One witness reported the suspect had emerged from the basement and was bleeding from the legs. Police found a bloody 19-year-old at the scene and took him to a hospital for treatment of cuts and a possible broken leg.
As of Thursday night, the teen had not been arrested. It was not immediately clear whether he lives at Place Ste. Marie.
As fire crews mopped up the damage Wednesday night, a city electrician and a building manager were called to the scene.
Police were investigating the incident as a case of burglary and criminal mischief.
Witnesses said a man broke the glass on this basement window and vandalized a utility room Wednesday night at Place Ste. Marie on Oxford Street in Lewiston. (Mark LaFlamme/Sun Journal)
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