Vehicle accidents
A man from New Gloucester, Maine, was reading an online map while driving on Warren Avenue on Wednesday afternoon, March 18, and was not paying attention to the road. He lost control of his vehicle, which veered off the road and hit a utility pole, knocking it down.
The driver was able to exit the vehicle safely and was transported by ambulance to Nashoba Valley Medical Center, Officer Gregory Newman said. He was not seriously injured and was not cited in the incident. The vehicle stayed where it was until the utility company had removed wires hanging over it and had put the pole back up. The vehicle was towed the next day.
* A Townsend man driving home from work on Ayer Road early on Sunday morning, March 22, told police he’d fallen asleep at the wheel when his vehicle crossed the center line and went off the road. Fortunately, there was no traffic and the man wasn’t injured. The car was towed and no citation was issued, Officer Newman said. — M.E. Jones
Arrest
A license plate check on a vehicle traveling on Ayer Road Monday morning, March 23, showed an arrest warrant had been issued for the owner, a 44-year old man from Shirley. The officer stopped the vehicle at the Ayer rotary and arrested the driver, Zilnei Machado, on the default warrant. The warrant was for failure to appear in court on a previous charge of operating a motor vehicle without a license. The vehicle was towed.
Found with 911
An Ayer woman walking with her two small children on the paths behind the McCurdy Track on Lancaster County Road on Friday afternoon, March 20, got lost in the woods and called the police for help. The dispatcher instructed the woman to call back using the emergency 911 number, which allowed police to target the cell phone call and pinpoint her location. Armed with that information, town dispatcher and EMT Matthew Perry, who lives nearby, walked into the woods, found the trio and led them safely out of the woods.
Officer Newman said the incident shows the effectiveness of the department’s sophisticated Enhanced 911 tracking system.
Vandalims
Police investigated a rash of mailbox vandalism reports over the past weekend, including several incidents reported in the area of Jacob Gates Road early on Saturday morning, March 21. In another incident of vandalism that same morning, a group of juveniles pelted a Candleberry Lane home with eggs, Officer Newman said.
The culprits were caught, he said, and must make restitution to the homeowners by cleaning up the eggy mess.
