HAVERHILL —
Despite repeated assertions in an internal police investigation released
earlier this week that retired state Trooper Charles Noyes was intoxicated at
the scene of a March 30 incident near the Rocks Village Bridge on River Road,
it appears that Noyes may never face drunken driving charges.
City officials
said Friday that the incident was so poorly handled by the responding officers
from Haverhill and West Newbury that it would be impossible to convict Noyes
for driving drunk.
Instead, Noyes
was charged by West Newbury police with negligent driving and leaving the scene
of an accident that caused property damage. He was placed on unsupervised
probation for six months.
"The
actions that were taken that (night) made it highly unlikely that any
prosecution (for DWI) would stand some chance of success," said
Haverhill's city solicitor, William Cox.
He said
Haverhill police officials reviewed the report with attorneys from the
Worcester County District Attorney's office, which is handling the case instead
of the Essex County District Attorney's office. The Worcester County District
Attorney's office determined that a drunken driving charge wouldn't stick.
"They have
looked at it," Cox said. "We asked that question — after reviewing
the report, 'what happens if a charge is brought at this point, because of the
circumstances outlined in the report?' They (police) did ask the DA about
bringing charges, and I don't think they (DA) felt it was prosecutable ... due
to lack of evidence and the way they (police) handled the case."
He added,
"the evidence they did have was compromised by the actions of everyone at
the scene."
Public Safety
Commissioner Alan DeNaro, who is also the Haverhill police chief, said that
unless new evidence or new information comes forward, there will be no charge
of drunken driving filed against Noyes.
"We
reviewed everything in the report with the DA's office in Worcester," he
said. "If we get new information other than what we have, and a charge
becomes a legitimate option, then we'd do that. But we have no new information
other than what we have in the report."
The Worcester
District Attorney's office agreed.
"The
Worcester District Attorney's office has no plans for any other charges at this
time," spokesman Tim Connolly said Friday. "But if evidence was
presented to us, we'd certainly look at anything along those lines."
Worcester
Assistant District Attorney Jon Hartmere prosecuted the case because the Essex
County District Attorney's office transferred the case over concerns of a
potential conflict of interest.
The report, the
result of an internal investigation into the incident by Deputy Chief Donald
Thompson, is pretty damning.
On March 30,
former state trooper Noyes crashed his vehicle into a utility pole around 10:30
p.m. on Route 113 in West Newbury, snapping it in half and cutting power to the
surrounding area for almost 11 hours, police said.
But he kept
driving with his airbags deployed until police found him in the travel lane in
the area of 12 River Road, just over the Haverhill line near the Rocks Village
Bridge, police said. West Newbury police were first on the scene, followed by
Haverhill officers.
What happened
next was the subject of the internal review by Thompson.
He focused on
three questions: Was Noyes intoxicated? Was he the operator of the Cadillac
Escalade involved in the accident? Which agency should have charged him?
Thompson writes
that "by all accounts, if Mr. Noyes was not intoxicated, he was certainly
questionable enough that a field sobriety test should have been
administered."
Sgt. Daniel
Cena of the West Newbury Police Department described Noyes as
"legless," a phrase interpreted to mean intoxicated. Officer Adam
White of Merrimac, along with Sgt. Harry Miller and Officer Chris Paglialuca of
Haverhill described him as intoxicated. Others at the scene told Thompson that
Noyes had said he'd had two drinks. They all felt he should have been given a
field sobriety test.
Instead, the
discussion at the scene centered around whether Noyes was really the driver,
where his keys were, and who should charge him with what.
The internal
investigation concluded that either Haverhill or West Newbury police could have
charged Noyes with operating under the influence of alcohol, but that only
Haverhill police could have arrested Noyes because his vehicle was stopped in
Haverhill. West Newbury police could have summonsed him to court.
Worcester
County Assistant District Attorney Hartmere said West Newbury police should
have charged Noyes with DWI.
Attempts to
reach West Newbury Police Chief Lisa Holmes were unsuccessful.
As a result of
the report, three Haverhill police officers have been suspended. It is not
known what if any actions have been taken against the West Newbury officers.
Jeffrey Denner,
a Boston defense attorney, said the case is an example of preferential
treatment given by police officers toward police officers.
"It was a
little professional courtesy," he said. "If a civilian had been
involved in this kind of incident, either there would be a criminal complaint
or a show-cause hearing to decide whether to proceed with a charge. That's
normally what happens with a non-police officer. I've seen this before.
Everyone's seen this before."