A Belmont woman who drove her car into a police officer in Hallowell after becoming frustrated by a traffic jam caused by a triathlon was arrested Sunday, the Kennebec Journal reported.
Katherine D. Kelley, 34, was charged with failing to follow emergency directions of a police officer, driving to endanger, felony-level assault on a police officer and failing to follow a traffic control device, Hallowell’s interim police chief, Christopher Giles, told the Kennebec Journal.
City police officers had stopped vehicle traffic on Water Street, near Academy Street, to let a group of Ironman 70.3 Maine runners cross when Kelley, whom Giles said had become irate with the delay, “refused to comply with those commands and drove her vehicle at the officer, striking the officer in the leg.”
The officer, who was not identified, was treated for a minor injury.
The Ironman race traveled through Augusta, Chelsea, Pittston, Dresden, Richmond, Litchfield, Gardiner, West Gardiner, Hallowell and Farmingdale, with a swimming portion in the Kennebec River. Kevin Lully, Augusta Police Department’s deputy chief, told the Kennebec Journal no other incidents were reported in the city as a result of the race.
