What do all these have in common? A Jeep teetering at the edge of Manomet Point, a giant highway sign splayed across the hood of a Buick, and a public school bus with rear-end damage.
That’s what Plymouth police found when they answered three separate driving-related calls this week.
Three drivers now face criminal charges for their motoring mishaps, all allegedly fueled by alcohol or drug use. They pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges when they appeared separately in Plymouth District Court.
The first incident took place Monday evening when police answered a call for a Jeep resting against a boulder on a steep boat launch at Manomet Point.
They found the driver, Rachel Smith, of Plymouth, leaning out of the driver’s side door, allegedly spitting and vomiting on the ground, according to a report filed by Plymouth Patrol Officer Luke Whalen.
She was extremely upset and crying, after having had a fight with a male friend, the police report said.
Smith said she had run out of gas and rolled down the boat launch to purposely land on the boulder, she suggested to police.
She acknowledged having a drink earlier — a Pink Whitney, the police report said.
When the officer asked her to step out of the car, she allegedly slid out and fell to the ground, the officer wrote.
“Rachel operated the Jeep on a public way, down onto a narrow, single lane portion of the road, onto a steep embankment, before stopping against a large boulder that prevented her from continuing down towards a rocky beach and the ocean below,” Whalen wrote.
She was cited for operating under the influence of alcohol and negligent operation of a motor vehicle.
The Jeep was towed.
Smith pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Plymouth District Court and was released on personal recognizance. Her lawyer, Marshall Johnson, could not be reached for comment.
On Tuesday, police responded to two more accidents allegedly resulting from drug or alcohol use.
Patrol Officer Dylan Oxsen was leaving Plymouth police headquarters at about 1:45 p.m. on Nov. 19 when he heard “an extremely loud scraping sound,” according to an incident report.
He spotted a white Ford Fusion traveling toward him dragging its front bumper.
Oxsen followed the car as it turned into nearby Home Depot Drive.
Meanwhile, Plymouth police issued an alert, urging officers to be on the lookout for a white vehicle that had just struck a school bus and fled the scene.
The bus was on the way to pick up Plymouth North High School students, but had no passengers at the time. The crash left the bus with a flat tire and damaged tire rim, police wrote.
Oxsen asked the driver, Anthony D’Errico of Plymouth, if he knew his front bumper was dangling from his car. He said he had been in a minor accident. The officer asked why he didn’t stay at the accident scene.
“Anthony stated he was going to buy some Christmas lights,” wrote Oxsen.
D’Errico told the officer the bus had hit him, and he hadn’t fled the scene. And he said he had nothing to drink before the accident, the report said.
A woman who had been driving behind D’Errico stopped to tell Oxsen what she saw, court records show.
The driver had been “all over the road, unable to maintain lanes,” she said. At one point, she said, he ran a red light at the end of the Exit 13 off ramp on Route 3. That when he allegedly struck the school bus, the police report said.
D’Errico eventually admitted having a mixed drink before getting into his car.
At the Plymouth police station he gave a blood sample, registering a blood alcohol level of .16 percent —twice the legal limit in Massachusetts, police wrote.
He was issued a citation, charging him with operating under the influence, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of property damage.
He pleaded not guilty in Plymouth District Court on Wednesday and was released on personal recognizance. He is due back in January. He couldn’t be reached for comment and a lawyer’s name wasn’t listed on court papers.
Also on Tuesday, at 11:46 p.m., police were called to South Street, where a car had crossed the road and landed on the sidewalk and grass in front of apartments at 165 South St.
A large MassDOT sign for Route 3 North and South lay across the hood of the driver’s blue Buick.
An off-duty nurse who had stopped to help told police the driver had been “nodding off.”
She said she had been waiting to turn from Obery Street onto Long Pond Road when she saw the car veer off the road and hit the sign.
Plymouth patrol officer Connor Flynn asked the driver, Michael Connors, of Wareham, what happened. He was still in the driver’s seat.
Flynn said he had a long day at work, the police report said.
As he stepped out of the car, Connors asked the officer why the large sign was atop his vehicle.
“I explained to him that he had struck the sign, which he stated he did not remember doing,” Flynn wrote.
The officer spotted a needle and syringe in the car and Connors admitted being a drug user, the report said. He had open sores on both arms and appeared “drowsy and inattentive,” the report said.
When other officers arrived at the scene, they found several used syringes and a baggy that Connors said contained fentanyl.
Connors was charged with operating under the influence of drugs, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, driving with a suspended sentence, and possession of heroin subsequent offense. He faces identical charges in Wareham District Court, the records show.
Police said they will ask the Mass. Registry of Motor Vehicles to declare him an “immediate threat” to public safety, which means that the RMV alone would decide when he could drive again.
Connors pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Plymouth District Court. His bail in the Wareham case was revoked and he’s being held on those charges.
Connors’ lawyer, Tim Shyne, said it’s not easy for prosecutors to prevail in a case like Connors’ because they must prove exactly what drug a defendant was using when he was stopped.
“Rarely can they do that,” he said. “The government has to meet their burden of proof. “That can be an uphill battle.”
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.