Police Log for Jan. 18 – March 8

Editor’s Note: The Chester Telegraph Police Log is a sampling of incidents taken directly from Chester Police reports. We do not identify individual victims of crimes nor those who have been arrested.

Friday, Jan. 18, 8:15 a.m.

Police spotted a car traveling at a high rate of speed in a 50 mph zone on Route 11 East, and clocked the speed with radar at 69 mph. When the officer turned to pursue the car, he saw the driver braking, and leaning “way over” toward the passenger side. As the officer approached the vehicle, the officer suspected that the driver had already retrieved his paperwork. But none was in sight. The man was identified as a 29-year-old Springfield resident.

The man said he knew he was going too fast, and began looking for registration and proof of insurance, which he could not produce. The officer saw that the man’s eyes were very red, and asked him what he was doing when he was leaning over toward the passenger’s side. The man would not consent to have his vehicle searched.

But a check of his license status revealed that the state criminally suspended his license because of six previous convictions of operating after suspension – civil, between January 2004 and January 2010.

The driver was taken into custody.

9:45 p.m.

Police were sent to 103 North in Chester after it was reported that two Connecticut SUVs were headed north, passing other vehicles unsafely and driving erratically. Since they had no further description of the cars or their plate numbers, and “with about 75% of vehicle traffic matching that description,” police were unsuccessful in locating them.

Saturday, Jan. 19, 4:59 p.m.

Police were dispatched to the area near Lisai’s Market on Depot Street after a report that a pickup truck was being driven erratically. Upon arrival, a woman was standing next to the vehicle. Police say she was obviously impaired, but there were no keys in the vehicle or on her person, she was not in the vehicle and police had not seen her driving the truck. Police learned that the owner of Lisai’s, Lonnie Lisai, had taken the keys from the woman when he learned from store patrons about the manner of her operating the vehicle. Lisai said he would drive her to her home.

The woman could not be arrested since there were no eyewitnesses to her driving.

Tuesday, Feb. 5, 3:39 p.m.

A complainant reported that a Honda, occupied by “four teenagers,” was being driven at a high rate of speed and passing in an unsafe manner along Route 11 from Springfield. The complainant later explained that the car had come up from behind at a high rate of speed and passed him in the breakdown lane, cut in front of him and shot into the other lane, passing two more vehicles at the end of the straightaway. The complainant also said that the car passed more cars, and continued in the wrong travel lane as it crossed the railroad tracks. He followed the car, but when the occupants realized he was watching them, they took off, and the complainant lost sight of them along Church Street.

Vermont State Police located the car at the Jiffy Mart. And the complainant also pulled up and yelled, “That’s the car, that’s the car.” One of the people in the back seat of the car, a 23-year-old man, who had been identified as the driver and said his name was “Matt,” began to cry, saying that he was going to go to jail. He then gave his real name and stated that he was under house arrest, under a 24-hour curfew and was in Chester visiting a cousin. The man was charged with careless and negligent operation of a vehicle, providing false information to a police officer and violation of conditions of release.

Thursday, Feb. 7, 9:13 a.m.

A suspicious vehicle was reported along Mattson Road. The complainant said he saw a male slumped over the steering wheel of his truck. The man then honked his own horn, sat up and took off toward Springfield. The vehicle was not located.

Saturday, Feb. 9, 10:14 p.m.

Police responded to a call for a family fight at a home on Route 11 East. A woman, 39, said her 36-year-old boyfriend began yelling at her and she called the police “before it got physical.” The man’s father had taken him for a ride to help calm him down, she said. There was no indication of a physical fight and the woman said her boyfriend had not been drinking and she was “OK now.”

Tuesday, Feb. 19, 5:59 p.m.

Chester Police and Vermont State Police responded to a single-vehicle crash on VT Rt. 11 West. The driver and his dog were trapped in the 2004 Dodge pickup truck. The West Dover man was not injured. The truck, traveling westbound, had left the road partially and hit a utility pole, which then collapsed on the driver’s side of the truck. Officers noted that as they talked to the driver, he failed to follow simple instructions, his eyelids were half-closed, he was mumbling and his reflexes were slow. He did inquire about the welfare of his dog. Fire and rescue personnel arrived to get the driver and the dog from the truck. The driver refused medical attention. But he appeared unsteady on his feet. There was a faint odor of alcohol coming from him. When asked to submit to field sobriety tests, the man said, “I plead the Fifth, no.” When asked to submit to a roadside breath test, he responded in the same manner. And when he was asked to describe the accident, he again referred to the Fifth Amendment. The driver was then placed under arrest. It was later learned that the driver only had a learner’s permit. He was charged with driving under the influence and driving without a license.

Saturday, Feb. 23, 10:13 p.m.

Police responded to a single-truck accident on Depot Street (VT Route 103 N) in Chester, involving a utility pole. The driver, a woman from Massachusetts, suffered a bump on her head. The vehicle sustained damage to the driver’s side, where it came into contact with the pole. The driver said she thought she hit some black ice. But officers could find no sign of such. However, police said, a combination of an empty truck bed and a snow-covered road could cause the truck to fishtail. The driver also admitted that the truck was not in four-wheel drive. The officer declined to cite the driver.

Friday, March 8 10:32 a.m.

A Chester police officer pulled over a 21-year-old male driver for driving 63 mph in a 40 mph zone, in front of Green Mountain Union High School. The officer smelled the odor of marijuana and saw a roach by the shifter. When asked about the smell and the roach, and if he had more, the driver handed the officer a second roach, but said he was unsure if more was in the car. The officer asked if he could search the vehicle, to which the young man consented. The officer found approximately 5 grams of marijuana, a pipe and a grinder in a ski boot bag in the back of the car. The young man was released without charges since the amount of marijuana was so small. The marijuana was destroyed in the presence of another police employee.