Driver Arrested for Fourth OUI in Hingham

A 49-year-old Rockland man was arrested by Hingham police this week for his fourth OUI after another motorist spotted him driver erratically on Route 3A.

Richard F. Higgins was driving with a revoked license, due to a previous OUI, when a motorist called police Monday afternoon to report that his dark Chevy pickup truck was "all over the road," according to a statement by the Hingham Police Department.



"The motorist said she first noticed the truck as it traveled north on Otis St. (Route 3A) near the Hingham Bathing Beach lot. The motorist said the truck had pulled off the road into a boat parking lot on Lincoln St. (Route 3A). The motorist described the driver but told dispatchers said she did not want to pull into the lot to avoid confronting the driver."

When confronted by police, Higgins said he was not driving, that his wife was, and that he had come to get boat parts.

"He appeared unsteady on his feet, was swaying from side to side, several times his knees appeared to buckle, and he held onto the bed of the truck. He denied he had been drinking at all. The Officer smelled the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath," the HPD said.

He refused sobriety tests but was arrested after police determined that he was the driver of the truck. Higgins was charged with Operating Under the Influence (Alcohol) 4th Offense, Driving with a Revoked License for OUI while OUI, and Operating to Endanger.

He was held on $2,500 cash bail by the Clerk Magistrate and held overnight at the Plymouth County House of Correction. 

According to the HPD:

In 2011 Higgins’s drivers was revoked for 8 years for prior drunk driving convictions. Under Melanie’s Law, a conviction for OUI while license is suspended or revoked for prior OUI carries a minimum mandatory sentence of 1 year in jail to be served in addition to any other sentence. 

The 4th offense charge is based on Higgins’s three previous convictions for Operating under the Influence(Alcohol); Quincy in 1987, Norwell in 1995 and Rockland in 2006. The charge of Operating under the Influence of Alcohol 4th Offense is a felony.