VERGENNES — On May 8 police cited a young Burlington man for driving with a criminally suspended license and without insurance or a registration, and for providing false information to a police officer.
Shortly afterward as they responded to help Vermont State Police at the scene of a one-car accident in Bridport they discovered the same driver had been operating the vehicle again and had allegedly driven it off the road near the intersection of Route 22A and Short Street. City police said they provided information to state police that led to a second set of citations for criminal DLS and driving without insurance or a registration.
Vergennes police said Farhan H. Hassan, 19, of Burlington was cited in both cases. In Vergennes, after first being stopped for speeding on Main Street, he initially gave police a different name, they alleged, leading to the citation for providing false information. In Bridport, police said Hassan and passenger were trying to push his vehicle back onto the road when they arrived.
Police between May 6 and 12 operated five directed patrols intended to enforce traffic laws and enhance traffic safety. They cited 25 drivers during those patrols, 23 of them on two patrols in the general area of West Main Street on May 11.
In other incidents during those seven days, Vergennes police:
On May 6:
•Called the Vergennes Area Rescue Squad to assist a man who had fallen near the intersection of South Maple and Victory streets.
•Dealt with a fender-bender outside of the Champlain Farms convenience store.
On May 7:
•Called VARS to take a Hillside Drive apartment resident who had harmed herself to meet with counselors at Porter Hospital.
•Accepted an EBT card and cash found on Armory Lane and returned it to its owner.
•Dealt with illegal use of a Shaw’s Supermarket Dumpster; police found mail and are trying to contact a suspect.
On May 8:
•Failed to find a vehicle reported to be operated erratically near 1 Alden Place.
•Helped state police by taking statements from victims of car break-ins at the Snake Mountain trailhead in Addison.
•Responded to a report of an unruly student at Northlands Job Corps and determined center personnel had the matter in hand.
•Told vehicle owners not to park on the lawn at Falls Park.
On May 9:
•Mediated a landlord-tenant dispute at a Main Street apartment.
•Discovered that a suspicious vehicle reported near the fire department belonged to a department member.
•Failed to find a vehicle reported to be operated erratically on Route 7.
•Checked the welfare of a First Street resident, who was determined to be OK.
On May 10:
•Warned a driver reported to be operating erratically on Route 22A to be more careful.
•Took a report that a FedEx package containing four lobster dinners had been stolen from a Maple Manor home.
•Heard another in a series of unfounded complaints from a Hillside Drive resident about a mysterious odor.
On May 11:
•Failed to find a group of 15 motorcycles state police reported had failed to honor the Monkton Road traffic light.
•Took a report that a Thomas Circle resident was being bullied on X-Box.
On May 12:
•Looked unsuccessfully for a shopping bag reported to be full of a suspicious white powder near Shaw’s.
•After receiving a complaint from a neighbor, asked a mother to have her kids stop running onto a Second Street porch.
•After getting another neighbor complaint, asked people to remove debris and brush that had been dumped on a vacant High Street lot and stop doing it in the future.
•Responded to a report of Northlands students fighting and determined that it was verbal only and that Northlands personnel had the situation in hand.
•Began investigating an allegation of a sex assault at Northlands.
•Took a report that passersby had without justification threatened to pepper-spray a leashed dog at a South Maple Street home.