Beth Brogan, Bangor Daily News
FREEPORT, Maine — The son of a Portland lawyer killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was arrested Friday morning at the Freeport public safety building after allegedly disrupting a ceremony marking the 14th anniversary of the tragedy.
James M. Roux Jr., 29, of Westbrook was charged with disorderly conduct and refusing to submit to arrest, Freeport police Lt. Susan Nourse said.
According to Nourse, Roux “came into the ceremony hollering his personal views about whether or not the ceremony should take place and things that had happened to him,” Nourse said. “We asked him to leave, he refused, and he was arrested.”
Officers took Roux outside in a matter of seconds, Nourse said, handcuffed him and took him to Cumberland County Jail.
Roux’s protest interrupted a speech by Maj. Adam Sacchetti of the U.S. Marine Corps, an inspector instructor with Company A, First Battalion, 25th Marines based in Brunswick, according to Nourse.
Nourse confirmed that Roux is the son of James M. Roux, a Portland lawyer,Bowdoin College graduate and U.S. Army veteran who died when United Airlines Flight 175 from Portland crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Elaine Greene, a founder of the Freeport Flag Ladies, who organized Friday’s ceremony, said Roux’s arrest record shows a history of being disruptive and that his outburst Friday should not be confused with a protest against the ceremony.
“He wasn’t speaking clearly — he was talking about Reagan and his father,” Green said. “He was not making logical sense.”
Roux does have an arrest record. He was arrested in September 2013 outside the Abercrombie & Fitch store on Main Street in Freeport, where he allegedly was found throwing produce to protest the store’s “exploitation” of young models, Freeport Police Chief Gerald Schofield told the Bangor Daily News at the time.
Greene said Roux’s outburst on Friday “was quickly taken care of” and the ceremony continued as planned.
“We didn’t skip a beat,” she said.
Roux was released from Cumberland County Jail later Friday and is scheduled to appear in Portland Unified Court on Nov. 17.
