ADDISON COUNTY — The week spanning the last two days of December and the first five of January was a relatively quiet one for Vermont State Police with only a handful of serious incidents reported by troopers during that stretch.
On Jan. 1 at 52 minutes after the start of the new year, state police responded to a report of a possible drunk driver who had left the Middlebury area. Troopers responded to the surrounding area in an attempt to locate the vehicle. While driving on Upper Notch Road in Bristol, troopers came upon the vehicle they were looking for; it had crashed. The driver, identified as 62-year-old Ronald Browe of Bristol, was with the vehicle and reported no injuries. The vehicle, a 2014 Dodge Ram 1500, sustained extensive damage to the front engine compartment.
Trooper Daley reported that Browe was operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated; his blood alcohol level at roadside tested at 0.233 percent. The legal limit for driving is 0.08 percent. Police took Browe into custody and transported him to the New Haven barracks, where he was cited for driving under the influence. He is due to answer the charge in court on Jan. 12.
State police made another DUI arrest on Jan. 3 after Trooper Szarejko stopped a vehicle at 12:14 a.m. on Hollow Road in Monkton for a traffic infraction. A check of DMV records showed that the driver, identified as 22-year-old Jacob Clark of Hinesburg, was driving with a criminally suspended license. Szarejko also suspected that Clark was driving while intoxicated, but Clark refused to provide a preliminary sample of his breath. The trooper took Clark into custody and transported him to the barracks for processing. Clark was released on a citation to appear in Addison County District Court on Jan. 12 to answer charges of DUI, second offense, and driving with a criminally suspended license.
Later that day, at 6:30 p.m., state police got a report of a domestic assault on Briggs Hill Road in Bristol. Trooper Young reported that police investigation revealed that Jason P. Vincent, 30, of Bristol, had physically assaulted the victim at his residence, and that further investigation showed that Vincent interfered with access for the victim to seek emergency services and violated his conditions of release.
Police took Vincent into custody and took him to the New Haven barracks for processing, and then lodged him at the Chittenden County Correctional Facility with no bail. Vincent was cited for aggravated domestic assault, interfering with access to emergency services and violation of conditions of release (see full story in the A section of this edition).
State police are investigating an act of vandalism that occurred in the early morning hours of Sunday, Jan. 4, when someone threw approximately a dozen eggs at a residence on the Lower Notch Road in Bristol. Anyone who has information about this incident is asked to contact state police at 802-388-4919. Information can also be submitted online at www.vtips.info or by texting “CRIMES” (274637) to Keyword: VTIPS.
The state police barracks in Bethel reported a few Addison County incidents, as well. On Dec. 30 at 2:17 p.m. a trooper from that barracks assisted a citizen in Shoreham; on Dec. 31 at 10:09 p.m. police looked into a 911 hang up in Granville, and on Jan. 2 at 5:44 p.m. troopers quieted a family fight in Hancock. No more information was available from state police at this time.