Man crashes into Waltham Police Station, charged with 4th OUI

March 11, 2008 05:58 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

Kate Augusto, Globe Correspondent

Police didn’t have to go far last night to arrest a man on drunken driving charges for the fourth time. Angel Hernandez crashed his Ford Ranger into the Waltham Police Department during roll call.

Just before midnight the truck smashed through the rear door of the station and scattered glass and debris throughout a hallway that was adjacent to the room where police had gathered at the start of their shift. None of the officers was injured.

“If someone had been walking through there, if it (roll call) had ended a few minutes earlier, it could have ended tragically,” said Detective Sergeant Tim King.

Hernandez, 45, was taken to the hospital with injuries that police said were not life-threatening. The 45-year-old Waltham resident works for the city water department. He will be summonsed to Waltham District Court and charged with operating without a license, operating to endanger, and operating under the influence, which he has been convicted of three times.

Hernandez has a hardship license which allowed him to drive between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., said Ann Dufresne, spokesperson for the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. He was given a hardship license when he appealed several times to get his driving privileges reinstated after his license was suspended following his third drunken driving arrest in Littleton in 2003, Dufresne said. A fourth operating under the influence conviction could result in a 10-year license suspension, she said.