ADDISON COUNTY — A Vermont State Police trooper responded to a one-car crash on Route 125 near Silver Street in Hancock on Aug. 4 at 8:35 p.m.
Police said Collin Buker, 24, of Rochester was driving westbound on Route 125 when a deer crossed the road in front of him. Buker reportedly piloted the 2006 Subaru Impreza he was driving off the north side of the road, crashed through the fence and into the small cemetery there. The Subaru travelled over approximately six gravestones and through the fence at the other end and into a tree.
Buker was wearing his seatbelt and was uninjured; he left the Subaru at the scene until it could be removed in the daylight. The car was considered a total loss.
Separately, officers at the New Haven barracks said that law enforcement agencies will set up one or more sobriety checkpoints in Addison County during the last two weeks of August and during the Labor Day weekend.
This will be done in the interest of detecting and arresting anyone driving under the influence of alcohol or any drug that has impaired their ability to operate a motor vehicle.
In other recent activity, Vermont State Police:
•  On the evening of Aug. 3 received a tip that Ronald Berry, 45, of Starksboro was violating his conditions of release and was not abiding by his curfew. Troopers went to his court-assigned residence and made several efforts to locate Berry without success. In the afternoon of Aug. 4 Berry arrived at the New Haven state police barracks to turn himself in, and was cited for violating numerous conditions of release and lodged at Marble Valley Correctional Facility in Rutland on $2,500 bail.
•  On Aug. 7 at approximately 8:30 p.m. received a complaint about a suspicious call, and got a directive to be on the lookout for a Dodge truck leaving the Lincoln area pertaining to the suspicious call. While en route to Lincoln a trooper stopped a truck matching the description on Lincoln Road in Bristol near Briggs Hill Road. Police said the driver, identified as 54-year-old James R. Holwager of Vergennes, was driving while under the influence of intoxicants.  Holwager provided a preliminary sample of his breath, and his blood alcohol content was measured at 0.092 percent; the legal limit for driving is 0.08 percent. The trooper took Holwager into custody, transported him to the New Haven barracks and cited him for driving under the influence.
•  On Aug. 10 received a report of the burglary of a camp located on Cobb Hill Road in Lincoln. Items reported taken from the camp sometime between Aug. 4 and 10 included electronics and alcohol. It is unknown how the burglar got into the camp. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Vermont State Police at 388-4919. Information can also be submitted online at www.vtips.info or by texting “CRIMES” (274637) to Keyword: VTIPS.
•  On Aug. 10 at around 6 p.m. were alerted to an assault that took place on Panton Road in Panton.  After obtaining information regarding the assault, troopers found Mark Delorme at his residence in Panton, took him into custody, cited him for first degree aggravated domestic assault and jailed him at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility for lack of $10,000 bail.
Meanwhile, Department of Public Safety Commissioner Keith W. Flynn this past Friday announced the change of command of the Vermont State Police. Col. Matthew T. Birmingham becomes the 13th director of the VSP, taking over from Col. Thomas J. L’Esperance, who retired from the state police after 28 years of service.
Col. Birmingham started his career with the VSP in 1998 as a trooper assigned to the Rutland barracks.  In 2002, he transferred to the Vermont Drug Task Force as a criminal investigator and moved up through the ranks of the state police as commander of the Vermont Drug Task Force and commander of Special Investigations, and most recently served as the deputy director for the past year.
Birmingham spent a majority of his career focused on fighting the opiate epidemic facing the state, and he said he will continue to make this one of his top priorities. He looks to maintain the strong relationships the state police has with Vermont communities through a commitment to professionalism, accountability and transparency.
“It is an honor to serve the citizens of the state of Vermont as director of the Vermont State Police, and I appreciate the trust that’s been placed in me by this appointment,” Birmingham said in a press release.