VERGENNES — While Vergennes police were investigating one recent potential driving-under-the influence case, officers ended up citing the suspect’s attorney for DUI. Police alleged the lawyer arrived at the station at about midnight to represent his client while intoxicated.
The incident began at about 11:15 p.m. on July 3 when Vergennes police pulled over a car for failing to yield at the stop sign on Panton Road where it ends on West Main Street.
Vergennes police, who were aided on the scene by a Vermont State Police Drug Recognition Expert, said they smelled alcohol coming from the vehicle and the driver did not do well in field sobriety tests. But they said that driver did not register at all when tested for blood-alcohol content, and eventually he was just cited for failing to obey the stop sign.
Meanwhile, police said that driver called his attorney, Gary Lange, 62, of Ferrisburgh. Police allege that Lange showed signs of intoxication when he arrived just before midnight, and that his evidentiary blood-alcohol test registered at 0.110; the legal limit for driving is 0.08. They then cited him for DUI early on the morning of July 4.
In other incidents between June 26 and July 9, Vergennes police:
•  On June 26 helped an owner get into a locked vehicle on West Main Street.
•  On June 26 told the owners of a Walker Avenue property that it was within their rights to have a vehicle towed that had been left in a parking lot there for a week.
•  On June 26 dealt with an accident on South Maple Street in which a truck backed into a home.
•  On June 26 directed traffic around a disabled vehicle at the intersection of South Water Street and Macdonough Drive.
•  On June 27 responded to a complaint of two suspicious men at a Thomas Circle home; it was learned they were Vermont Gas employees.
•  On June 27 took a report from a Walker Avenue resident who said someone had attempted to enter an apartment during the night.
•  On June 27 helped an owner get into a locked vehicle on Main Street.
•  On June 28 checked a report of a dog left in a car at Shaw’s Supermarket and determined there was no problem.
•  On June 28 spoke to kids riding ATVs and dirt bikes on Panton Road without helmets.
•  On June 28 looked into a report of a suspicious man at Champlain Farms and determined there was no problem.
•  On June 29 escorted an elderly man who was lost to the Whispering Pines Campground in Panton.
•  On June 29 accepted a debit card that a citizen had found at Shaw’s.
•  On June 29 stopped a vehicle that was reported to be weaving on Route 7 and determined the driver was just tired, but issued a ticket for operating an uninspected vehicle.
•  On June 29 dealt with a minor accident at Shaw’s.
•  On June 30 dealt with minor two-car accidents on Green Street and at the intersection of Main and South Water streets.
•  On June 30 looked into a report that a car parked at United Technology Corp. had been struck by another vehicle that then left the scene; police are still investigating this incident.
•  On June 30 spoke to a juvenile who was being threatened by another juvenile in connection with an earlier incident in which both had received Vermont State Police citations; Vergennes police told the juvenile to document any further threatening text messages.
•  On June 30 replaced a manhole cover on Main Street and informed public works that it had been out of place.
•  On July 1 twice went to the John Graham Shelter to deal with custodial disputes involving a former couple. On the first visit police calmed the two, and in the second visit they determined that car seats the father was using were, in fact, safe and legal.
•  On July 1 searched unsuccessfully for a reported erratic driver on West Main Street.
•  On July 2 helped state police process a DUI case at the station.
•  On July 2 helped the Vergennes Area Rescue Squad at a Main Street call.
•  On July 2 helped state police at the scene of an accident with injury on Route 7 in Ferrisburgh.
•  On July 4 calmed an arguing couple on South Maple Street.
•  On July 4 ordered to be towed a car that had been abandoned at Champlain Farms.
•  On July 5 responded to Macdonough Drive, where a car had popped out of gear and rolled into Otter Creek.
•  On July 6 backed up state police at a car search on Route 7 in Ferrisburgh.
•  On July 6 calmed a divorcing couple on Main Street.
•  On July 7 sent the department K9 unit to help Middlebury police at a Weybridge Road incident involving gunfire and pepper spray; the K9 unit tried but failed to find a cellphone belonging to a suspect. (See full story in section A of today’s edition.)
•  On July 7 alerted Bristol police and state police to deal with a motorist weaving on the road; police said the driver turned out to be having a medical emergency and needed aid.
•  On July 7 dealt with a minor accident at Shaw’s.
•  On July 7 responded to a report of a drunken man near a Meigs Road home; police found him lying down and learned he had been kicked out of another nearby home. Police report that his blood alcohol content tested at 0.348; as a point of reference that is more than four times the legal limit for driving a car. Police took him to the Act 1 detoxification center in Burlington.
•  On July 8 calmed a verbal dispute at a First Street home and stood by while the man involved packed up belongings and left.
•  On July 8 cited Joseph Beatty, 27, of Bristol for disorderly conduct, petty larceny and unlawful mischief following what police allege was disruptive behavior at the American Legion post that occurred after Beatty had allegedly been drinking and smoking marijuana. Police allege that Beatty tried to steal money out of the bartender’s tip jar, damaged a window of his sister’s car, and physically threatened a number of people.
•  On July 9 took a report that a car parked on South Water Street had been keyed (scratched with a key).
•  On July 9 helped a woman who came into the station obtain a relief-from-abuse order.