ADDISON COUNTY — A Good Samaritan who had stopped to check on the driver of a vehicle that had slid off River Road in Bristol this past Thursday morning, saw her own vehicle itself become the victim of a hit and run.
Vermont State Police said that Erin Forbes, 28, of Bristol stopped to check on the vehicle that had slid off the snowy, icy road at around 8:30 a.m. when a light green Ford Escape struck her Chevy Trailblazer, causing moderate damage, before continuing on down the road as the snow continued to fall. Police believe that the Escape will have moderate front damage as a result of the collision.
Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact state police at the New Haven barracks at 388-4919; information may be submitted anonymously by texting “CRIMES” (274637) with keyword: VTIPS or by going online to vsp.vermont.gov/tipsubmit.
In a separate incident, a driver who left the scene of a traffic crash that she was allegedly involved in, was found and cited.
Police said Kalli Mann, 47, of Brandon was driving a Ford truck westbound on Main Street in Orwell at around half past midnight on Saturday, Dec. 6, when police said she lost control of the truck on the wet asphalt on a curve and went off the north shoulder and into a residence.
When police arrived, the driver was not at the scene. But, police said that due to evidence left at the scene, they identified the driver as Mann, and they found her and issued her a citation to appear in court on Jan. 26 to answer to the charges of leaving the scene of an accident.
No one was at the scene of a Dec. 5 crash in New Haven when police arrived, and also, as in the other two incidents, the weather was snowy.
On that Friday at five minutes past 11 p.m. state police responded to a report that a 2009 Chevy Silverado belonging to Matthew McKinney had been stolen from a residence on River Road in New Haven. The vehicle was located a short time later on Halpin Road in New Haven, rolled over into a ditch.
Police said evidence on the scene indicated the vehicle had crashed prior to the stolen vehicle complaint. Troopers report that during an interview the next day McKinney admitted he falsely reported the vehicle stolen, and that at the time of the crash he was a passenger and 20-year-old Corey Yantz of Lincoln was operating the vehicle. Police cited McKinney for making a false report to law enforcement authorities.
In other recent activity, state police:
•  On Dec. 3 reported an accident with damage in Hancock on Nov. 26 at 1:14 p.m. No other details were available.
• On Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. went to a Route 7 residence in Salisbury on a report that an assault had occurred there. Troopers said their investigation led to the arrest of Christopher Zeno, 46, of Salisbury for simple assault on a 57-year-old Salisbury man. After a tussle with police, Zeno was ultimately cited for simple assault, unlawful trespass, and resisting arrest.
•  On Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. responded to a motor vehicle accident on Route 125 in Ripton. Police said that when at roadside they tested the blood alcohol content of the driver, identified as 52-year-old Penny J. Haskins of Hancock, that her BAC was 0.134 percent, which is above the legal limit of 0.08 percent. Police cited Haskins for driving under the influence.
•  On Dec. 5 at 9:23 p.m. responded to a report of a vehicle off the road on Route 116 in Bristol. Police report that the driver, identified as 55-year-old Sherry Ober of Bristol, was under the influence of alcohol. She declined to submit to a breath test roadside. Ober was processed for DUI at the state police barracks and released with a citation for driving under the influence.
•  On Dec. 6 at around 7:30 p.m. calmed a family fight in Hancock.
•  On Dec. 7 reported on the case of a real-life Grinch in Bristol. State police said that sometime between Dec. 3 and 7 someone used a cutting tool to vandalize Christmas light strands attached to the Bristol house of Bristol police officer George Randy Crowe. Trooper Busby said early this week he was too early in his investigation to say if Crowe’s home was targeted because he is a police officer or if the culprit was simply devoid of holiday spirit.
Anyone with information on this crime is asked to contact state police.
•  On Dec. 8 at 8:07 a.m. responded to a two-vehicle collision on Ripton Road in Lincoln. Michael Carper, 47, of Lincoln told state police that he was backing a Ford Explorer out of his driveway when a vehicle coming down the hill slid into his vehicle. Shannon Gilmore-Manning, 37, of Ripton told the trooper that she was driving a Honda Civic south on Ripton Road when, after coming around a bend, she saw a vehicle backing out of the driveway and attempted to stop, but her vehicle began to slide and she struck the Ford Explorer. State police do not believe alcohol or drugs played a factor in the collision. Carper’s vehicle sustained moderate damage, while Gilmore-Manning’s vehicle sustained minor damage. No one was injured.
•  On Dec. 8 at 12:24 p.m. receive a report of a two-vehicle collision in the Ferrisburgh Post Office parking lot off Route 7. Police found that the back end of a tractor-trailer driven by Salkic Prisli, 36, of South Burlington had come into contact with a Jeep Cherokee mail vehicle driven by Elizabeth Hoag, 53, of Monkton, but the two drivers’ accounts of the event differed. Both agree that Prisli asked Hoag to move one of the postal vehicles so he could back into a space. He said that as he backed into a space she moved the Cherokee forward hitting the rear of his vehicle. Hoag told police that she backed the vehicle up out of the way and placed the vehicle in park and that the tractor-trailer backed into her vehicle before she could move out of the way. State police do not believe alcohol or drugs played a factor in the collision. The tractor-trailer sustained minor damage, while the Jeep sustained moderate front-end damage.
•  On Dec. 8 at 11:48 p.m. stopped to assist a vehicle off the Peddler Bridge Road in Ripton. The trooper said his investigation showed that the driver, identified as 25-year-old Paul Beardsley of Ripton, was driving while under the influence of intoxicants. A preliminary sample of Beardsley’s breath showed a blood alcohol content of 0.118 percent. The trooper took Beardsley into custody and took him to the New Haven barracks, where Beardsley refused to give the sample that would give the definitive blood alcohol result. Beardsley was issued a citation to appear in Addison County Superior Court, criminal division, on Dec. 29 to answer the charge of driving under the influence refusal.