VERGENNES — Vergennes police on Jan. 8 cited a Huntington man for refusal to submit to testing for driving under the influence of alcohol, an action taken after he allegedly pulled into the Champlain Farms convenience store and approached two members of the department and asked them to help him pump gas.
One officer the man approached at the Main Street business was the department’s plainclothes detective, which the man did apparently without noticing a uniformed officer with the detective. Police said they then smelled alcohol on Christopher Jones, 41, of Huntington, and they cited him for DUI-refusal and also drove him to the Act 1 detoxification facility in Burlington to sober up.
In an otherwise mostly quiet period between Jan. 6 and 12, Vergennes police dealt with two other DUI cases, both on Saturday.
Police that night cited Jeffrey Pike, 46, of Richmond for DUI, second offense. Police alleged Pike failed roadside sobriety tests after they stopped him on South Water Street for failure to signal a turn.
Later that night, police cited Rodney Stearns Jr. of Charlotte, 32, for DUI, second offense, refusal. They alleged he failed roadside sobriety tests after police stopped his car at the junction of Route 7 and New Haven Road for erratic driving, but then refused blood-alcohol testing.
In other action between Jan. 6 and 12, Vergennes police:
•  On Jan. 6 took a report of a minor hit-and-run accident in the Shaw’s Supermarket parking lot.
•  On Jan. 6 received two tips about illegal drug activity in the Vergennes and Middlebury areas.
•  On Jan. 8 calmed a dispute between a woman’s husband and ex-boyfriend in a Green Street apartment; police are still sorting out allegations of pushing and shoving, they said.
•  On Jan. 9 helped a car owner get into a locked vehicle on West Main Street.
•  On Jan. 9 checked in at the South Water Street home of a regularly truant child, but found no one home. Police checked in with the Department of Children of Families and learned that the DCF was already investigating the case.
•  On Jan. 10 received a citizen complaint of a tractor-trailer truck tailgating excessively, found the truck and issued a ticket to its operator.