NK Police Log: NK Man Arrested After Driving Into Telephone Pole, Parked Car

Andrew Hammond, 50, of 352 Shore Acres Ave. was arrested Friday at 2:38 a.m. on charges of driving under the influence and reckless driving after striking both a telephone pole and a parked car.

Police received a call from a homeowner on King Phillip Drive reporting the sound of a loud crash. When police arrived, they found a broken telephone pole that had been pulled about 10 feet from its base. Held up only by the tension wires, the pole was leaning over the road.

Near the pole, officers found a license plate. Police judged from the tire marks that the driver was attempting to negotiate a turn when he struck the pole and continued on Yorktown Road.

While the scene was being photographed, an officer spotted a trail of liquid leading from the telephone pole. Police followed the trail and found a gray Nissan Altima with heavy frontend damage at the end of the trail of liquid. Also at that location, police found a red Dodge Ram – also with severe frontend damage – with the same license plate number as the one left at the scene.

According to two neighboring residents, they saw the red truck pull up to the house and their neighbor get out and move his truck. While pulling into the driveway, the red truck hit the Nissan head on and continued into the driveway. According to police, the neighbors claimed they saw the driver get out of the truck with what appeared to be a case of beer, get into the neighbors truck, and leave the scene.

While patrolling the area near Hammond's home, officers saw a white pickup truck pull into Hammond's driveway. According to police, Hammond admitted to striking both the telephone pole and the parked car, claiming he left the scene because he was panicked.

According to police, Hammond smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot and watery eyes, later admitting to consuming a six-pack of beer.

When police told Hammond that he had left the scene of an accident, Hammond claimed, "But I left my vehicle where I struck the parked car."

After failing the field sobriety test, Hammond was brought to headquarters where his blood alcohol tested at .059 percent and 0.61 percent. Because Hammond's field sobriety test results indicated severe impairment despite his BAC being lower than the legal limit, police brought Hammond to Kent County Hospital for a blood test.

Hammond was then released to 4^th District Court.

The above reports detail arrests made by the North Kingstown Police Department from Thursday Dec. 2, through the early morning hours of Friday Dec. 3. Descriptions of all events are based solely on police officer reports provided to Patch.