Accused Drunk Driver Hits Police Cruiser In Work Zone, Injuring Officer
SAUGUS (CBS) -- For the fourth time in two weeks, an allegedly drunk driver was involved in a crash in a Massachusetts work zone.
Massachusetts State Police said a Revere Police cruiser was struck by a man driving drunk on Route 1 Northbound on the Malden-Saugus line shortly after midnight on Thursday.
Police said it was 43-year-old Denny Miller of Newburyport's second OUI offense--he was previously convicted of OUI in Ohio.
The cruiser was in the right travel lane while working on a pothole repair detail.
Police said Miller rear-ended the Revere cruiser. The cruiser was totaled. Miller's vehicle rolled over.
Prosecutors said Miller, who police say failed a field sobriety test, told officers he had four beers while at the Red Sox game and fell asleep at the wheel before the crash.
During his arraignment in Lynn District Court Thursday, Miller's attorney requested $2,500 bail. Prosecutors asked for $7,500 bail, but the judge ruled in the defense's behalf.
The Revere Police officer in the cruiser was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with minor injuries.
Warning signs, arrow boards, and police lights were set up to warn drivers to move out of the right lane, but according to State Police, Miller ignored them.
Miller was taken to the Revere State Police barracks and charged with operating under the influence (second offense), failure to move over for an emergency vehicle, and failure to take care in stopping/starting.
The crash comes a week and a half after a highway worker was struck and killed on I-93 in Medford by a man police say was driving drunk.
The day before that fatal crash, a man was charged with striking a MassDOT worker while driving drunk just outside the Ted Williams Tunnel. Then, last Thursday, another accused drunk driver hit a work crew in Raynham. Nobody was injured in that crash.
"Impaired drivers are a menace on our roads regardless of whether there is a work zone in place or not," said MassDOT Highway Administrator Thomas J. Tinlin in a statement Thursday morning. "We ask the public to not drink and drive."
Tinlin said in the statement that MassDOT would discuss the recent rash of work zone OUI crashes with the Executive Office of Public Safety, Massachusetts State Police, the Federal Highway Administration, and Construction Industries of Massachusetts.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Ben Parker reports
