CAR CRASHES DOWN STEPS AT CITY HALL
Pedestrians ‘miraculously’ avoided
A drunken Rhode Island man drove a car through City Hall plaza and down three flights of stairs — “miraculously” missing pedestrians along the way — before slamming into a pole on nearby Congress Street late Friday night, police said.
Boston police said Nicholas Hoetzel, 26, of Tiverton, R.I., then jumped from the mangled car and fled, only to later be found unconscious with several “self-inflicted” wounds on State Street.
Police said investigators searching the car found an open bottle of Crown Royal whisky and a gun on the passenger side floor. Hoetzel, who police says was suffering from “mental health issues,” was taken to a local hospital.
Witnesses told police that they saw a blue Toyota Corolla, driven by Hoetzel, jump the sidewalk near Washington and Court streets and drive onto City Hall Plaza in the direction of City Hall shortly after 10:30 p.m.
The car then turned right and rambled down the three-flight staircase leading to Congress Street, where it crashed into the crosswalk light pole and stopped in the busy roadway, its front end crumpled by the impact.
“Although numerous people were walking on the stairs and in the area at the time of the incident, miraculously, none were struck or injured in any way,” police said in a statement, adding that there is no indication the incident has ties to terrorism.
Hoetzel is expected to be arraigned in Boston Municipal Court on charges including negligent operation of a motor vehicle and operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. He will also face a count of unlawful possession of a firearm because he doesn’t have a license to carry a gun in Massachusetts or Rhode Island, police said.
Hoetzel was found guilty in 2013 with refusing to take a Breathalyzer test in a separate traffic incident, though other charges — including operating a motor vehicle with alcohol in the car — were dismissed, according to online Rhode Island court records. His license was suspended for seven months, and he was sentenced to driving retraining and community service.