Suspected drunken driver sat in car after trooper was hit

October 20, 2008 04:16 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

As State Trooper Dana Cresta lay bleeding from the head on the Mass Turnpike in Newton on Saturday, the alleged drunken driver who had just struck him sat in his car for about 15 minutes and fretted about the situation, according to court records.

"I asked him if he got out of his car at all,'' Trooper Mark Augusta wrote in his arrest report. "Sullivan stated, 'No, why do that?' I asked him if he could see the trooper bleeding out in front of him, and he said yes.''

Patrick Sullivan, 23, was arraigned yesterday morning in Newton District Court on charges of operating under the influence, speeding to endanger, and driving in a breakdown lane. His lawyer, Daniel F. Campion, entered a plea of not guilty on Sullivan's behalf. Both men declined to comment outside the courthouse yesterday.

Cresta, 49, was airlifted to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and listed in serious condition with facial injuries. According to authorities, Cresta was standing in the westbound breakdown lane about 2:51 a.m., responding to a traffic accident, when he was hit by Sullivan's Nissan Maxima sedan. Cresta struck the windshield and was thrown several feet.

Court records obtained after the arraignment detail a fun-filled evening for Sullivan, a shipper and laborer with Telecom Wireless, and a long-time friend that ended in a haze of drunkenness. His blood-alcohol lever was .155, nearly double the legal limit.

Sullivan and a friend drove to the TD Banknorth Garden on Friday evening to watch a Celtics preseason game. Sullivan told Augusta that he had two beers at the game and that he and his friend went to Faneuil Hall afterward, where they had several more drinks. From there, Sullivan got behind the wheel and the two headed for the turnpike.

In a written statement after his arrest, Sullivan said that he was driving behind a Volkswagen station wagon when the car abruptly veered from the far right lane to an inner lane. Sullivan continued on the outside lane.

"I did not see any yellow lights or blue lights or traffic lights,'' Sullivan wrote. "The next thing I saw was the trooper in front of my car. This was unexpected. I could have left the scene, but I decided to stay in my car and not leave the scene. I saw the trooper [at the] last second and couldn't brake in time.''

In his report, Augusta said Sullivan was glassy-eyed and his speech was so slurred that he had trouble understanding him. Sullivan had difficulty keeping his balance and declined to submit to a Breathalyzer test, according to Augusta's report.

Sullivan remained free on a $1,000 cash bail and is scheduled for a Nov. 24 pretrial hearing.

A day after that incident, a driver accused of operating under the influence struck a trooper's empty cruiser. The trooper had been investigating a single-car crash in the high-speed lane of Interstate 93 just south of Exit 6 in Braintree. The two incidents have served to renew calls for a state law that would require highway drivers to move out of the right lane when emergency vehicle lights are flashing.

State Representative Christine E. Canavan, a Brockton Democrat, said she has been sponsoring the legislation, called the "Move Over Law,'' because too many police officers and tow truck drivers are hurt or killed on the side of the highway every year. Under her proposal, drivers would be required to slow to speeds 20 miles per hour less than the posted speed limit, or face a ticket of at least $100.