FREEPORT, Maine — Editor's note: The video above aired Jan. 24, 2022.
A Freeport man facing a civil rights complaint after allegedly threatening a Black man with a gun in a Freeport parking lot pleaded not guilty to criminal charges related to the same incident last November.
William P. Rowe Sr., 61, waived an initial court appearance Monday and pleaded not guilty to Class C felony criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and misdemeanor threatening display of a weapon and disorderly conduct in connection with incident the night of Nov. 30, 2021.
Freeport police Officer Bradley Rogers wrote in an affidavit that he met with the alleged victim, a 39-year-old Black man who serves in the U.S. Navy, the morning after the reported incident.
The alleged victim said that after having dinner with a friend at Antonia's Pizzeria on Lower Main Street that night, a man police later identified as Rowe walked up to the car before crossing his arms with the barrel of a gun sticking out from under his armpit and said through the open car window that he did not belong in Freeport, asked him why he was there and called him was a "bad man."
Rowe then allegedly began to "blow him kisses and say things to him trying to talk him into a fight where the man was clearly armed with a handgun," Rogers wrote in the affidavit.
The man told police Rowe's girlfriend then pulled up in a pickup truck and told him to come with her.
Rogers wrote that the man recorded the encounter on his cellphone, and police identified Rowe as the suspect because the man in the video matched a photo of Rowe on file with the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office.
"The video clearly shows [Rowe] being confrontational and taunting [the man] while displaying a handgun," he wrote. "His verbalization during the taunting leads me as an observer to believe it was done because [the man] was a Black person. It appears that there is no other reason for the one-sided confrontation by Rowe as he displayed a handgun other than he clearly did not like [the man] for the sole reason of his race."
Police said Rowe told them he didn't recall any confrontation at Antonia's that night and denied flashing his gun at anyone or exchanging "words," but did say he was intoxicated.
According to Rogers' affidavit, the owner of Antonia's, Lee Sotiropoulos, told the alleged victim he had no video surveillance equipment that might have recorded the interaction; however, but did subsequently provide surveillance video to Freeport police on two occasions.
Rowe also faces a civil rights complaint filed by Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey.
According to the complaint, after the alleged victim and a white woman left the restaurant, Rowe, while carrying a Smith and Wesson semi-automatic pistol, knocked on the window of the man's car and said, "Something stinks. You got it?"
When the alleged victim said, "What's going on," Rowe allegedly said, "Freeport, Maine, baby. We don't do this [expletive] in Freeport, Maine."
The complaint alleges that Rowe targeted the man based on his race or color and requests an order prohibiting Rowe from having any contact with the victim and from violating the Maine Civil Rights Act in the future.
Rowe allegedly told police that he is not a racist "and would have used the n-word with the victim if he were."
Police allegedly retrieved the Smith and Wesson semiautomatic pistol and Smith and Wesson Highway Patrolman revolver from the girlfriend's apartment, Frey wrote in the complaint.
Rowe waived an initial appearance Monday and pleaded not guilty to the charges filed by police. He remains free on the initial $1,000 unsecured bail pending a July 21 hearing.
The civil case filed by Frey requests injunctive relief, according to a spokesperson. If Frey obtains an order and Rowe knowingly violates it, he could be charged with a Class D crime punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
Rowe's attorney, Luke Rioux, did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.