Scarborough Police on Saturday assisted the Maine Warden Service and U.S. Border Patrol with a suspicious death investigation after stopping a vehicle with eight occupants that allegedly left the scene.
According to Scarborough Police, the department received information from the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office shortly before 11 a.m. on Saturday regarding two vehicles that left the scene of a suspicious death in Waterford.
The information relayed to Scarborough Police indicated that the two vehicles might be travelling from Waterford to a residence in Scarborough.
Police say a teletype from the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office was issued shortly after requesting that the vehicles be stopped and to notify the Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Border Patrol.
At about 11:07 a.m., a Scarborough Police officer observed one of the two vehicles in question and stopped the vehicle on Route 1 near the intersection of Enterprise Drive in Scarborough.
The vehicle contained eight occupants, according to police.
Four additional Scarborough Police officers and a Cumberland County responded to assist with the traffic stop.
Scarborough Police say that they were advised that Border Patrol had extensive travel time from Oxford County to the scene, and that the Maine Warden Service would be responding as the primary agency investigating the suspicious death.
That death appears to be the drowning of 50-year-old Pedro Quizhpi of Ecuador, following the capsizing of a canoe in Waterford. A second man who was in the canoe survived and told investigators he could not remember what happened after the boat flipped on Papoose Pond.
Scarborough Police remained at the scene of the traffic stop until the Maine Warden Service arrived to conduct their investigation.
Police say no further comments on the matter will be given as the case is now being actively investigated by the Maine Warden Service.
The incident garnered significant attention on social media after images of the traffic stop and arrests were posted to Instagram by Project Relief ME, which describes itself as a “Racial Justice/Mutual Aid Group.”
According to Project Relief ME, the eight occupants of the vehicle were immigrants working as painters and were pulled over by Scarborough Police before being detained by U.S. Border Patrol.
Project Relief ME then later posted an update saying that the immigrants were part of the same family and that a member of their family had died that morning.
The group posted several images purported to be of the arrests of the eight individuals who were inside the van. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol vehicles can be seen at the scene.
