Man tries to run down Maine Wire journalist for reporting on Bangor methadone clinic
A man attempted to ram a reporter with the Maine Wire on Thursday morning, trying to run the reporter over with his car outside a Bangor, Maine methadone clinic.
Joe Sokol had been reporting on public property across the street from the Bangor Comprehensive Treatment Center when a man drove by in his car, reversed it, and confronted Sokol.
The man told Sokol, “You’re kinda invading people’s privacy here, confidentiality, you realize that?”
“I’m invading people’s privacy?” Sokol asked. “By being in public with a camera and doing a report?”
“Yeah,” the man said. “Videoing across the road, you know what’s up, bud. C’mon.”
Sokol asked what he could do for the man, who, in reply, put his car in drive. Sokol continued with his report, telling the camera, “And we have another person, essentially, probably intoxicated. There’s no way to tell. But what I will say is multiple people did get in cars they—.”
Sokol was cut off, jumping out of the way as the camera fell to the ground. The sound of a car accelerating could be heard, with Sokol reciting the license plate off the car.
Surveillance footage from a nearby business showed the man pulling out of the business’s driveway, taking a right turn onto the grass where Sokol was located, and driving at the reporter.
Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson said in a statement, “The bedlamite identified Sokol as a journalist and expressed a clear intent to stop him from conducting routine journalism from public property.”
The vehicle involved was a blue Jeep Compass with a Maine license plate reading 841-LZD. Robinson said, “Sokol’s quick-thinking and training immediately allowed him to preserve the license plate. He is unharmed and safe.”
Per the Maine Wire, Bangor police responded to the incident and are investigating the matter. Robinson said, “We will cooperate fully as they investigate the driver of the Blue Jeep Compass Maine License Plate 841-LZD, as well as any nearby accessories to attempted murder who may have provided this individual with intoxicating substances before he immediately attempted vehicular homicide.”
The suspected driver of the vehicle, identified as Ryan, spoke over the phone with the Maine Wire’s Steven Robinson, apparently assuming that he was the police. The man said it was a “crock of sh*t” to say that he tried to run Sokol over. He said he is a patient at the center, was not intoxicated at the time of the incident, and had been on his way to get methadone at the center.
He claimed he was “polite” while talking to Sokol, saying the reporter was “just looking down on people.” He said he drove off the road because the reporter “kind of fired me up,” and that he really had “no good reason.” He claimed Sokol had “disrespected” him. He said he recognized Sokol from other reporting he has done.” The man hung up on Robinson when he said he was a reporter, with the man replying, “this isn’t a police officer?”
The center that Sokol was reporting on is a center that provides medication-assisted treatments, such as methadone, for drug addicts. The center has received millions of dollars in Medicaid funding since 2018, totaling $20,608,669.71 between 2018 and 2024.
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