Alleged dispute between two men ends in charges for both

FITCHBURG » Two men were summonsed to court as the result of an incident in November in which one threatened the other with a knife and the threatened man crawled out of his vehicle with a baton and smashed the front windshield of the man with the knife, according to police and court documents.

Police said that on Nov. 26, officers were dispatched to the area of 20 Water St. for a reported disturbance.

When officers arrived, they spoke with Steven Sterner, 32, of Adam Avenue, Langhorne, Pa., and a Fitchburg woman who told the officers that Timothy Gordon, 35, of Ashby West Road, Fitchburg, had smashed the windshield of Sterner’s vehicle.

Sterner said he and Gordon got into an argument while Gordon was dropping his children off at the Water Street residence.

During the argument, Sterner said Gordon crawled out of his vehicle with a baton in hand, climbed onto the top of Sterner’s truck and smashed the front windshield.

As the officer was investigating, he was called by dispatch and told that Gordon was at the police station to talk with an officer about the incident, the officer reported.

Gordon acknowledged he had smashed Sterner’s truck windshield, but it was because Sterner had gotten out of his truck with a sliver knife and threatened him, the officer reported.

The officer spoke with Gordon’s girlfriend, who told him

Sterner had gotten out of his vehicle with some type of shiny object and that was when Gordon crawled out of his car and damaged Sterner’s truck, the officer reported.

As a result, Sterner was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and Gordon was charged with vandalizing property, according to court documents.

When arraigned on Monday, both pleaded not guilty and were released on personal recognizance and ordered to return to court on March 13 for a pretrial hearing, according to court documents.

N.H. woman in court for hearing on OUI, reckless endangerment of child charges related to truck crash

LEOMINSTER » A New Hampshire woman who allegedly crashed her truck with her child inside last March on Interstate 190 and was cited for several moving violations, OUI causing serious injury and reckless operation appeared in district court Monday for a pretrial hearing, according to police and court documents.

At about 1:20 a.m. March 21 a state trooper was alerted to a rollover crash on I-190 north at mile marker 17.6 and when he arrived at the scene he found Aleah M. French, 23, of Union Street, Peterboro, N.H., lying about 25 feet from the crash scene going in and out of consciousness with heavy facial abrasions and portions of her shirt and pants ripped off her body, the responding state trooper reported.

When he approached the truck, which sustained heavy damage including its roof being caved in and all the windows blown out, he looked inside and saw an infant less than a year old strapped in a baby car seat, who began crying once the trooper began talking to her, the trooper reported, adding the baby had a large bruise on her face.

EMS and the fire department were called to administer aid and extricate the baby from the truck, which was done with the Jaws of Life hydraulic tool, the trooper reported.

French regained consciousness at about the same time EMS arrived and the trooper spoke briefly with her before she and the baby, who, it was later learned, suffered a fractured skull, were taken to a Worcester trauma center, the trooper reported.

During that brief conservation the trooper had with French, he saw her pupils were extremely constricted considering the light conditions and her speech was slow and slurred, and she told him she was driving home and had reached for her cellphone just prior to the crash, the trooper reported.

The trooper later learned that French and her baby had an open case with the Department of Children and Families and that the nursing staff at the trauma center found a small bag of what was believed to be heroin on her, the trooper reported.

While at the hospital French told the staff that she had consumed heroin, marijuana and alcohol prior to the crash, the trooper reported.

French’s blood was taken for screening at the trauma center and it tested positive for fentanyl, marijuana and had a blood alcohol level of 0.07, the trooper reported.

As a result, French was charged with OUI-drugs with serious injury, reckless operation and cited for a marked lanes violation, failing to wear a seat belt, using an electronic device while driving, and unsafe operation, according to court documents.

When arraigned in November, French, who pleaded not guilty, was released on personal recognizance and ordered to return to court for the Monday hearing, which was continued, according to court documents.

She will return to court again March 22 for the pretrial hearing.