Traffic Violations

October 17, 2008

Drunk Driver, Fifth Offense, Says Prostitute Caused The Accident

You know, I think prostitutes are getting a bad rap this week. Yesterday’s daily blog covered a young lady with a record for prostitution being arrest under…curious…circumstances. Today, we examine a case where a prostitute is blamed for something once again…and not for her chosen profession. It is unlikely to end the same way, though.

57-year old Leonard R. (hereinafter, the”Defendant”) had a little problem this past Sunday, apparently when he was returning home in Pittsfield. Well, he did not exactly drive to his home…he drove into his home. His speed is not indicated, but his Toyota Tundra is said to have destroyed a garage door and caused structural damage to the brick building.

According to Central Berkshire District Court records, he was driving with a revoked license. His license had been revoked because of previous drunk driving convictions.

Oh yes, he is also alleged to have been drunk at the time of the collision with his apartment building.

Well, he was now home, after all, so he left the nasty seen and went to his apartment. According to Pittsfield police, he was found “hiding in his bedroom closet”.
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October 10, 2008

Massachusetts Driver On Probation Faces Third Round Of Charges For Operating Under The Influence

by Altman & Altman

David K., 38, of Hamilton, Massachusetts (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) is getting points for consistency – negative points. He has just been arrested for his third alleged occasion of driving under the influence. In fact, he also faces bonus points for violating probation because of the arrest. Currently, he is awaiting his final score as a guest of the Commonwealth.

The Defendant came to the attention of police when he was driving just after 2:00 a.m. on Bridge Street in Beverly. Unfortunately, the headlights on his pickup truck were not on. He was pulled over and, during questioning, the officer says he smelled alcohol and noticed that the driver seemed uncoordinated as he fumbled for the registration. When asked if he had been drinking, the Defendant showed the officer a prescription bottle of Trazadone, a painkiller he said he was taking because of surgery to his Achilles tendon two years ago. According to the police report, he also told the officer that he had taken two pills – twice the suggested dosage.

Digesting all of this, the officer checked the Defendant’s information and learned that the Defendant was not even supposed to be behind the wheel in the first place. In addition to a one-year license suspension because of two similar cases last year, his license had been revoked in December for four years by the Registry of Motor Vehicles, which deemed him a habitual offender for some reason.

October 7, 2008

Outstanding Warrants Come Back To Haunt Massachusetts Resident

by Altman & Altman

William Shakespeare once told us that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. His point was “What’s in a name?” A gentleman from Chicopee, Massachusetts, apparently agrees with him. In Chicopee, he is known as Felix Maldonado. In Waterbury, Connecticut, however, he was known as Alfredo “Eddie” Gonzalez. But to us, as well as the criminal justice system, he is now known as the Defendant.

The Defendant, 43, is currently being held without bail in Connecticut, courtesy of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where his various identities were finally meshed. He was returned to Connecticut in August to face 18 outstanding arrest warrants dating back to 1995 and 1996.

He had been alluding authorities for years by moving around and using a variety of aliases and birth dates, police said. After all, what good is a new identity without a new birthdate to go along with it?

October 6, 2008

Boston Driver Creates New Lane And Chaos On Route 93, Adding Multiple Charges To Operating Under the Influence

by Altman & Altman

It would seem that some people are never satisfied. Now that “The Big Dig” is completed, one particular driver was unhappy with the lanes created by the extensive project. Her solution was apparently to create a “speedy-reverse lane”.

Siobhan H, 21 years of age and Norwood of residence (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) was in court this past Friday facing various charges for her ingenuity. She had come to the attention of police when calls were received of a driver traveling on the wrong side of the highway at the Hanover exit on Route 3. She continued in her special lane, traveling almost 20 miles in the wrong direction on I-93 Southbound all the way to Dorchester in her 1998 Chevrolet Malibu. She drove at speeds over 100 miles per hour, according to the authorities.

When the police tried to stop her, she did what one would expect she would do; she tried to out-drive them. During the chase, the Defendant slammed into one car and jersey barriers. Finally, the police blew out her tires through use of “stop sticks”.

September 29, 2008

Western Massachusetts Runners Attempt To Escape Arrests For Shoplifting, Possession Of Stolen Automobile and Parole Violation This Weekend

by Altman & Altman

The “wild west” has long been associated with images of folks making their own rules and bravely trying to tame the frontier. It would appear that two Western Massachusetts gentlemen had similar attitudes…although, according to the police, their actions would be more aligned with untaming than taming the area.

Let’s start with this past Friday in Springfield. 30-year old Ricardo M., (hereinafter, “Defendant”) was observed by police officers while allegedly ducking down inside a car near 86 Maple Street. When simply nestling under the dashboard did not work, he decided to jump out of the car and lead the police on a foot chase. This, however, did not make his situation dire enough, so he took the extra alleged step of breaking into an elderly woman’s apartment to hide.

She screamed. Police came. He was arrested.

September 17, 2008

Arrest Warrant Inspires Massachusetts Driver To Make As Many Mistakes As Possible During Traffic Stop

by Altman & Altman

Some people have not been taking this blog to heart and so apparently did not believe that it was not good to take a bad situation with law enforcement and make it worse. Now, 19-year-old Falmouth resident, Tevis Yarmala, faces multiple charges after he allegedly struck and tried to stab a Falmouth police officer in the face with a stick during a traffic stop last week.

Mr. Yarmala is alleged to have run a red light. First strike. Observing this, Patrolman Christopher Bartolomei , according to police reports, pulled the vehicle over. Mr. Yarmala is said to have greeted the officer by name. Second strike. When the patrolman “detected” the odor of burnt marijuana and asked about it, Mr. Yarmala admitted to smoking marijuana at a friend’s house. Third strike.

In this particular game…not out yet.

September 15, 2008

Springfield Massachusetts Ambulance Patient Changes Seats In Motor Vehicle And Role In Criminal Justice System

by Altman & Altman

Have you ever heard the saying “the lunatics are running the asylum”? We begin the week with a story about an interesting twist on it.

It was last night. Sunday night. All around the Commonwealth, people were preparing for a new week of work and school. The clock struck 9:30pm. Perhaps you were getting ready to retire for the evening, resting up for what the week would bring. An ambulance patient in Springfield, Mass., however, had other ideas. He decided to overtake and commandeer the ambulance.

The unnamed joy rider was being taken to Mercy Medical Center. The gentleman had been reported as acting erratically. Suddenly, he decided to turn things around. He attacked and started beating the medical technicians, successfully chasing them out of the ambulance on Chestnut Street. Once the technicians jumped ship (or ambulance), he took control of the vehicle and began driving. Apparently a stickler for consistency, he drove erratically through Springfield, hitting a Peter Pan bus, a car and then a parked car on Main Street, said Springfield Police Lt. Robert Strzempek.

September 4, 2008

North Of Boston, An Alleged Teenage Crimewave Faces Actual Jail

by Altman & Altman

Yesterday’s Salem Daily News told the tale of Angelo Diiorio, age 18. The young man, had been ordered by the court to confine himself to his home while awaiting trial on charges of vehicular homicide and child rape. In fact, he was even ordered to wear an ankle bracelet. According to the police, however, this condition of release was a bit too difficult for Mr. Diiorio to follow as he was found behind a Danvers business attending a meeting (scheduled fight) with another youth this past Saturday night. The court remedied the youth’s impulsivity by making him a guest of the Commonwealth for 60 days.

According to law enforcement, the two teens were arrested at approximately 10 p.m. as they were in mid-conference (“swinging at each other”) regarding a desired acquisition (a girl). The meeting was forcibly adjourned with the resulting charges of disorderly conduct, trespassing, and possession of marijuana. For poor lovesick Diiorio, however, these charges were the least of his problems as the arrest resulted in the court’s revoking Diiorio’s bail in his pending Salem rape case. Diiorio had been indicted last year on a charge of rape, which involved the alleged sexual assault on an 11-year-old girl during a Christmas Eve gathering in Danvers in 2006. Two weeks later, on January 5, 2007, Diiorio was allegedly at the wheel of a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse when he lost control on Route 1 in Revere and crashed, killing a 17-year-old girl in Peabody, for which he faces charges of vehicular homicide and negligent driving to endanger. Investigators say the crash was caused when Diiorio and another driver decided to race each other on the highway.

The respective prosecutors in these cases opined to the court that his latest arrest indicates Diiorio doesn’t take court orders seriously.

September 3, 2008

Massachusetts State Police Recover Drug Stash After Car Chase And Violent Arrest

by Altman & Altman

Last Thursday night, two gentlemen in Taunton learned that sometimes it is better to quietly accept a motor vehicle citation than to protest, flee and fight, thereby adding a few felony charges to the experience.

Enterprise News reports that just before 5 p.m. two state troopers spotted an early-model Infiniti G20 with a defective brake light and a sticker indicating that it had failed an inspection on Route 44. They activated their flashing lights and the driver, Brian Lacombe, 20, pulled into the parking lot of KFC restaurant on Route 44 and stopped. However, as the officers left their cruisers to approach on foot, Lacombe apparently had a change of heart and allegedly sped away heading east on Route 44.

And so the chase began.

September 2, 2008

Massachusetts Drunk Driver Charged With North Shore Pedicab Accident And Leaving The Scene

by Altman & Altman

The pre-Labor Day Weekend push of commercials warning against operating under the influence did not prevent the collision between an automobile and a pedicab just before the weekend, according to a story published by the Salem News.

According to the article, a 20 year old female struck the pedicab just after midnight on Washington Street in downtown Salem. According to the police, she stopped “for a brief moment” and then drove around the tipped-over pedicab and then left the scene. The pedicab’s driver, Anthony Taurasi III, reportedly chased the motor vehicle up the road before collapsing on the ground. Mr. Taurasi and one of his passengers were then brought to the hospital. During his brief chase, however, he was able to view a partial license plate.

Given the license plate number, police said they found Rose Barry of Beverly driving on Highland Avenue with her hazard lights on. However, when the police turned on their blue lights and sirens, she refused to stop “made an abrupt right turn into the rear of 84 Highland Ave. and then attempted to go between a space in the guardrail.”