Icy conditions on Dec. 23 resulted in multiple downed trees and wires as well as calls to the DPW regarding hazardous roads. Last week’s snowstorm followed by drifting snow resulted in some minor accidents, all without injury, and many calls to the DPW about hazardous roads.
Over this three-week period, police made 55 traffic stops, resulting in 12 verbal warnings and 43 citations. One vehicle was towed because it was unregistered. Police said one reason for the high number of stops and citations is that town officials had requested stronger enforcement of speed limits. Also, police were stopping more cars during this time period because of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign, which ran from Dec. 13 through Dec. 30.
Police assisted five motorists with disabled vehicles and one locked-out motorist. The ambulance crew responded to 17 medical emergencies and took 17 people to the hospital, six with Advanced Life Support on board. Below are the more significant entries from the police logs of the past three weeks.
Tuesday, Dec. 19
At 11:42 a.m. DPW employee Ron Gilbert reported property damage to the shed next to the town’s water storage tank on Bolton Road. Police observed 30 dents on the door, likely made by a rock, and damage to the door lock. The shed had not been entered. Police also took note of tracks that showed a vehicle had driven around the gate and up to the tank. The DPW plans to put a large rock next to the gate to hamper vehicle access to the property. Gilbert said he checks the shed every day.
Thursday, Dec. 21
A 911 call was made from the Harvard General Store at 7:48 a.m. regarding a hit-and-run accident. A commercial vehicle backed into a parked car and left the scene. Bystanders in the parking lot got the license plate number of the vehicle, and police called the owner of the vehicle and asked that the driver come to the police station. When the driver arrived, police discovered that there was an outstanding warrant against him. He was taken into custody and charged with leaving the scene of an accident. At 4:56 p.m. a caller reported a one-car accident on Mass. Ave. near the elementary school. The driver was unconscious and taken to the hospital. Police determined that the accident was caused by a medical condition.
Friday, Dec. 22
At 9:10 a.m. police attempted to serve a warrant to an employee at Harvard Outdoor Power Equipment on Ayer Road at the request of the Ayer Police Department. The employee had quit the day before, so police were unable to serve the warrant. A DPW employee walked into the station at 11:11 a.m. to report vandalism at the Transfer Station. The returnable bottles and cans building had been broken into, and bags of bottles and cans were stolen. The employee said this was the second time in the past month this had happened. The chain across the entrance to the Transfer Station had been left down for some unknown reason, allowing vehicle access to the area. Police said that even when the chain is up, they find cars parked outside the Transfer Station and people going through the metal pile or the take-it-or-leave-it tents. Police would like to remind residents that they are not allowed on Transfer Station property except during its posted hours. Police will increase patrols of the Transfer Station.
Tuesday, Dec. 26
At 6:08 p.m. police saw a car drive into the Transfer Station and its driver enter the bottles and cans building. Kyle Smith, 25, of Lunenburg was caught holding bags of cans, and police found additional cans and bottles in his vehicle. Police charged him with trespassing, larceny from a building, larceny under $250, using a motor vehicle in a larceny, and attempting to commit a crime. Smith was arraigned at Clinton District Court Friday, Dec. 29. Harvard Boy Scouts run the returnable bottle and can shed and use the funds for projects, camp, and trips. Police said Smith attended Bromfield and was familiar with the bottle and can area because he used to be a Boy Scout in Harvard. They said Smith is also considered a suspect in similar thefts in Bolton.
Wednesday, Dec. 27
An accident was reported at 11:32 a.m. when a vehicle traveling northbound on Ayer Road slowed to turn left into Harvard Kennels, and the vehicle traveling behind it couldn’t stop in time and hit a utility pole while trying to avoid the turning vehicle. No one was injured, but the vehicle sustained heavy front-end damage and had to be towed. The driver was cited for failure to stay in marked lanes.
Friday, Dec. 29
At 1:55 a.m. police arrested Sam Smith of Littleton County Road for violating his probation. Smith, who has been charged with multiple counts of child abuse, was arraigned in Clinton District Court later that day. At 6:22 p.m. a vehicle struck a deer on Still River Road. Both the car and the deer left the scene without assistance.
Monday, Jan. 1
At 12:41 p.m. a resident called police to report that $2,000 in charges had been made to a credit card that was still in the resident’s possession. The charges were made in Marlborough and Hudson. Police suspect “skimming,” a method of retrieving card information by using false fronts on ATM or gas pump card readers. Police are investigating.
Wednesday, Jan. 3: A caller stopped by the station to give police a debit card found in the parking lot at Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge in Still River. Police contacted the card issuer and were told that the card had been reported missing and had been canceled. Police destroyed the card.
Friday, Jan. 5
A vehicle slid off Mass. Ave. near the Westward Orchards Farm Store at 11:57 p.m. and required a tow. No one was injured.
Saturday, Jan. 6
A vehicle slid into a snowbank on Poor Farm Road at 1:16 p.m. No one was injured, and passersby were able to assist in freeing the vehicle. At 1:50 p.m. a vehicle traveling north on Ayer Road struck a vehicle turning onto Ayer Road from Poor Farm Road. No one was injured. The driver of the car that was struck was cited for failure to yield to oncoming traffic. At 5:54 p.m. the driver of a car on Bolton Road reported hitting a deer, which was hit again seconds later by a car traveling in the opposite direction. The deer was injured but ran off into the woods.
Monday, Jan. 8
At 2:21 p.m. a car hit a parked car in the parking lot of Acton Medical Associates on Ayer Road. No one was injured.
[EasyDNNnewsToken:PoliceLog]
