Police: Drunk man knocked out power in crash
Jun. 15—HAVERHILL — A Peabody man has been arrested for speeding and operating under the influence of liquor when he crashed his car into a utility pole on Hilldale Avenue early Sunday morning, knocking out the electrical power throughout that area of the city, police said.
In addition to speeding and operating under the influence of liquor, Connor Lachance, 25, of 80 Foster St., Peabody, was also charged with negligent operation of a motor vehicle and a marked lanes violation.
He was arraigned Monday in Haverhill District Court, where Judge Cesar Archilla released him on personal recognizance, with the condition he remain drug and alcohol free and submit to random screens.
Archilla scheduled a pretrial hearing for Aug. 25.
According to a police report on file in Haverhill District Court, at 12:46 a.m. on Sunday, June 13, police were dispatched to 500 Hilldale Ave. for a report of a car that crashed into a utility pole, knocking it over and causing live wires to fall to the ground.
A witness who heard the crash called dispatch and said she saw a female passenger walking away from the scene and that she was headed north toward Rosemont Street.
Police who arrived at the scene of the crash said a 2012 Toyota Camry with heavy front-end damage was in the middle of the street.
National Grid arrived and shut off the power, police noted in the report.
The woman who reported the crash told police that when she stepped outside of her home, she saw the driver, who police identified as Lachance, standing beside the door of the crashed car, arguing with his female passenger.
Police said Lachance appeared to be heavily intoxicated and was being treated for minor injuries by Trinity EMS personnel.
Police said Lachance was swaying and having a hard time standing on his own. Lachance told police he'd been drinking at a downtown bar and that he let a woman he met drive his car as he drank too much. Police said he told them he was the passenger.
"I had this girl drive my car, why do you think I'm still here? ... she left, not me," Lachance told police. "I know when I shouldn't drive. ... I wouldn't lie to you guys."
Other officers found the woman on Rosemont Street. Police said she appeared to be intoxicated too and that she denied being in the car, saying she had walked home from the downtown bar.
The woman told police she lives on the other side of the city, in the Riverside neighborhood. When told she was nowhere near her home, she replied, "oh, I'm drunk," according to police
Police said the woman was evaluated by Trinity Ambulance personnel and was transported to Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill.
After Lachance failed field sobriety tests, police arrested him for operating under the influence.
A breathalyzer test administered to Lachance at the police station indicated a blood alcohol level of .17, which is above the legal limit of .08.
