Drunk Driver Flees from Crash Scene on Route 101: NHSP

STRATHAM, NH - New Hampshire State Police made an early morning arrest after an accident on Route 101 near Exit 10 in Exeter, according to an alert.

Randy Sprague, 33, of Epping, was arrested on Feb. 27, 2016, and charged with driving while intoxicated-subsequent offense, conduct after an accident, reckless operation, and two counts of criminal mischief.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the New Hampshire State Police. It does not indicate a conviction. Click this link to find out how to get a name removed from a New Hampshire Patch police report.

According to New Hampshire State Police, a trooper was called to a report of a motor vehicle crash at around 2:15 a.m. on Route 101 near Exit 10. When the trooper arrived, he found a 2008 Ford Ranger crashed in the median facing south and up against the guardrail.

“The vehicle had sustained significant contact damage as a result of the crash,” according to Sgt. John Hennessey of the NHSP.

The vehicle, a preliminary investigation revealed, was traveling west when it “drifted completely off the paved portion of the roadway to the right, striking and destroying a Route 101 west sign.” When the pickup truck hit the sign, the driver “over-corrected to the left, drove across the two westbound lanes of Route 101 and struck the guardrail in the center median head on.”

Witnesses reported seeing a man by the pickup before state police arrived but there was no driver at the scene, according to Hennessey. A K-9 unit was called in to try and find the driver “based on the seriousness of this crash, the extremely cold temperature, and the potential for injuries to the driver,” he noted.

Troopers and the K-9 unit began trying to find the driver and walked through “thick woods and across a stream to the north of the crash scene.” The driver – Sprague – was reportedly located on River Road in Stratham and arrested.

Sprague is being held on $500 cash bail and will be arraigned on Feb. 29.

NHSP were assisted at the scene by members of the Exeter and Stratham police departments, according to the alert.