Repeat drunk driver held in cruiser crash
A repeat drunk driver accused of slamming into the back of a state police cruiser Thursday night had a beer can with a straw sitting in the center console at the time of the crash, which left the trooper hospitalized with minor injuries, officials say.
State troopers were preparing for a road construction detail on the southbound side of Interstate 495 in Methuen about 8 p.m. when prosecutors say Joseph Doiron, 59, of North Andover, crashed his black Cadillac Escalade into the back of a cruiser.
“As the construction worker was placing the first safety barrel out to close the lane, I observed in my rear view mirror a vehicle approaching my cruiser at a high rate of speed in the left travel lane,” a state trooper wrote in his report. “I observed the vehicle continuing to come toward my cruiser at a high rate of speed with no signs of slowing down or changing lanes.”
The trooper who wrote the report said the driver swerved around his vehicle and smashed into the back of an unmarked cruiser.
After checking on his injured colleague, who was “awake and alert, complaining of head, back and neck pain,” the trooper rushed over to the crumpled Cadillac. Doiron, the trooper wrote, stumbled out of the SUV with a bloody face and a noticeable odor of alcohol. Inside the SUV, authorities say they found a beer can with a straw in the center console.
While being interviewed by state police at a nearby hospital, Doiron told troopers he drank two Miller Lites before he “left his camp” in New Hampshire, according to court documents.
The injured trooper, whose name has not been released, suffered minor injuries and was recovering yesterday, according to police.
Doiron pleaded not guilty to a fourth drunk driving offense at his arraignment yesterday in Lawrence District Court, where he also faced a charge of negligent operation of a motor vehicle.
A judge ordered Doiron held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing set for May 5.