ADDISON COUNTY — Vermont State Police are looking for the driver of a car that smashed into a car parked at a home on Jersey Street in Panton and drove away during the early morning hours of this past Sunday.
Police report that at approximately 1 a.m. on July 17 they received a report of a motor vehicle crash in Panton. An investigation showed that a darker colored Audi or Volkswagen sedan that apparently was traveling at a high rate of speed and was unable to navigate a sharp curve on Jersey Street when it left the road and struck a green Chevrolet Malibu that was parked in a driveway and unoccupied at the time of the crash.
The sedan left the scene of the crash without contacting the owner of the Malibu.
Anyone with information on this crash is asked to call the Vermont State Police New Haven at 802-388-4919; information can also be submitted online at www.vtips.info or by texting “CRIMES” (274637) to Keyword: VTIPS.
Separately, state police announced that area law enforcement agencies will set up one or more sobriety checkpoints in Addison County over the next two weeks. This will be done in an effort to monitor the flow of traffic along Vermont’s highways in the interest of detecting and arresting persons under the influence of alcohol or any drug that has impaired their ability to operate a motor vehicle.
In other recent activity, troopers:
•  On July 13 went to Hillside Drive in Starksboro to check out a report of an intoxicated male being disorderly. Troopers found Brian Sheppard, 36, of Starksboro lying face down on the front lawn of a residence. When the troopers attempted to speak with Sheppard, he became belligerent. Police allege that Sheppard failed to comply with the troopers’ orders and assaulted a Vermont state trooper in the process.
Police arrested Sheppard and took him to the New Haven barracks, where he was cited for disorderly conduct and assaulting a police officer and then released.
•  On July 14 at approximately 8:38 a.m. responded to a three-car collision near the intersection of Routes 7 and 17 in New Haven. Upon arrival, Twenty-year-old Burlington resident Peter Lynch told state police that he was driving southbound on Route 7 at approximately 40 mph when he could see vehicles slowing ahead of him. Lynch said that he slowed to about 15-20 mph near the intersection with Route 17W and that he briefly glanced down to grab his bagel off of the passenger seat.
When he looked back up the vehicles ahead of him were completely stopped. Lynch said he attempted to stop, but the 2002 Nissan Pathfinder he was driving collided with the vehicle in front of him — 2015 Acura MDX driven by Becky Quesnel, 40, of Ferrisburgh.
Quesnel told police that the vehicle in front of her slowed and then came to a complete stop as they approached the intersection. After she stopped she was rear-ended by a vehicle driven by Cecile Gebo, 70, of Vergennes. Gebo told a trooper that prior to the collision, she was travelling southbound on Route 7 when she noticed a vehicle in the northbound lane waiting to turn onto Route 17W, so she stopped to let the vehicle turn, and then Gebo was rear-ended.
All vehicles involved sustained moderate contact damage. Lynch was not injured, while Quesnel and Gebo were treated for soreness. State Police do not believe alcohol or drugs played a factor in the collision. Police did not anticipate any court action.
Editor’s note added Aug. 29: To make it plain, the sequence of events was that a car driven by Gebo stopped in the southbound lane of Route 7. Quesnel was driving a car behind Gebo and she came to a stop. Lynch was driving a car behind Quesnel; according to a state police media report Lynch slowed but did not stop until he struck the rear end of Quesnel’s car. The police’s media report implies that when Lynch’s car rear-ended Quesnel’s car, that Quesnel’s car was forced into the rear end of Gebo’s car. We’re sorry for any confusion that our reader’s had.
•  On July 15 announced that they are investigating vandalism to a motor vehicle parked over Hemenway Road in Bridport. Police report that someone used a firearm to shoot multiple holes in the vehicle during the nighttime spanning July 13 and 14. Anyone with information regarding 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.
•  On July 16 at 11:08 p.m. responded to Forrest Road in Bridport for a reported accident with an intoxicated male who was also reportedly trying to start an altercation. Gregory Paul Sands, 32, of Bridport told police that he collided with another vehicle in a shared driveway. Sands refused to provide a preliminary sample of his breath for a driving under the influence test; police took him into custody, transported him to the New Haven barracks and cited him for DUI.
•  On July 17 at 6 p.m. responded to a residence on West Street in Cornwall and arrested Rodibel Sanchez Lopez, 30, of Cornwall on an arrest warrant for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and simple assault. Lopez was lodged at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility for lack of $2,500 bail.
•  On July 18 at 10:40 a.m. alerted the public that a disabled truck with a wide load was blocking the intersection of South Street and Hunt Road in New Haven. The intersection was completely impassible. Police then said the intersection was open just before 1 p.m.
•  On July 18 at 12:32 p.m. responded with members of the Bristol police and fire departments and the Bristol Rescue Squad to Bartlett Falls on Lincoln Road for a report of a swimmer in distress. Police reported that 53-year-old Kirk Harris of Sanford, Fla., had sustained a severe injury to his neck and back after diving into shallow water from the rock ledge. Harris was secured on a backboard and carried out the falls area by first responders, then taken to University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington.