Brockton man charged with OUI after hitting car, pole

By Jennifer Kovalich, Enterprise staff writer

BROCKTON — A city man who police say was drunk behind the wheel is facing charges after he crashed his Chevrolet into a telephone pole and fled the scene, leaving a passenger behind as the pole and its transformer toppled onto the vehicle.

Nigel Peterson, 18, 40 Cabot St., was charged with operating under the influence, operating to endanger, leaving the scene causing personal injury and failure to stay in marked lanes in connection to the accident that occurred at 11 p.m. Friday.

An unidentified woman in the vehicle was able to get out before the Chevrolet caught fire, said fire Deputy Chief Robert A. Manning.

Manning said the woman sustained a broken leg in the accident and was treated and released at Brockton Hospital.

Manning said it was not known whether the force of the crash, which sheared the utility pole at ground level, caused the vehicle to catch on fire, or if the vehicle fire resulted from the transformer and live wires falling on top of it.

“The car was destroyed,” Manning said.

Police Lt. Robert DiBari said Peterson's 1993 Chevrolet left the parking lot of a Tedeschi Food Shop “at a high rate of speed,” drove south along the sidewalk before getting back onto the roadway, then crossed onto the opposite sidewalk and smashed into the utility pole at 30 Taylor Ave.

DiBari said Peterson eventually returned to the scene and was taken into custody by police.

In an accident at 5:25 a.m. Saturday, police say a man crashed his green Plymouth Voyager into a telephone pole on at West Chestnut and Market streets. DiBari said the driver, who was alone in the vehicle, told police he had fallen asleep behind the wheel. The force of the collision snapped the pole in half.

An ambulance took the driver, Francisco Pires, of Brockton, to the Brockton Hospital to be evaluated for injuries, police said.

Police cited Pires for failure to stay in marked lanes.