A Lewiston woman is accused of attacking a Black man with a pumpkin and threatening a Black woman with a knife.
The Maine attorney general’s office has filed an injunction in Androscoggin County Superior Court against 65-year-old Andrea Ouellette, it announced Tuesday.
In November 2023, the 31-year-old Black man was standing outside talking with a neighbor when Ouellette approached him, yelled a racial epithet and threw a pumpkin at his head, according to the attorney general’s office.
“Go back to your own country!” Ouellette allegedly yelled after the assault.
The attack left the man with a broken nose and teeth and facial swelling, which required surgery, the attorney general’s office said.
Then in January, Ouellette confronted a 48-year-old Black woman who was parking near Ouellette’s home. Ouellette yelled that the woman couldn’t park there and then allegedly approached her with a knife, screamed racial epithets and said “go back to your country or I will [expletive] kill you!”
The Lewiston Police Department is investigating both cases and charges are pending.
“Maine should be a place where everyone, no matter what race, feels safe to live and thrive,” Attorney General Frey said in a statement. “I will use the Maine Civil Rights Act to its fullest extent to stop racist threats and violence.”
If approved, the injunction would prohibit Ouellette from contacting either victim and their families.
Under the Maine Civil Rights Act, the attorney general can take action against any person who uses or threatens physical force, violence or property damage against another person based upon their race, color, religion, sex, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.
A knowing violation of an order issued under the Maine Civil Rights Act is a Class D crime punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
In the past year, the attorney general has obtained a civil rights injunction against a Portland man accused of harassing and threatening two Black women and announced it was pursuing a similar action against a Florida woman accused of using racial slurs and threatening an Asian-American woman in Kennebunkport in June and against a Jonesboro man accused of threatening an interracial couple last April.
