Mass. cracks down on drivers in wake of roadside cop death

State police issued 533 traffic citations and 23 summonses and made 36 impaired driving arrests during the first three weekends of Operation Lightning

August 03, 2010 09:37 AM

By Jessica Fargen
The Boston Herald

BOSTON — Massachusetts State Police are continuing a nearly monthlong crackdown on dangerous drivers after already handing out more than 500 citations and making dozens of arrests after one trooper death and several near-hits on Bay State roads.

State police issued 533 traffic citations and 23 summonses and made 36 impaired driving arrests and 25 other arrests during the first three weekends of Operation Lightning. Statistics exclude this past weekend.

Operation Lightning began last month and will last all summer as part of a road safety strategy after a trooper was killed and several others injured while pulling over drivers. It includes four extra midnight-shift patrols in each of four geographic troop areas.

“If you choose to drive drunk, or aggressively or allow yourself to be distracted, be forewarned that the Crown Victoria or Dodge Charger or unmarked car in your rearview mirror will be us,’' said state police spokesman David Procopio. Five troopers have been injured and one killed in separate crashes so far this summer.

June 13: Trooper Anthony Carrier was struck by an accused drunken driver on Route 128.
June 18: Sgt. Douglas Weddleton, 52, a married father of four from Brockton, was struck and killed by an alleged drunken driver while working a construction detail on Interstate 95 in Mansfield.
July 4: Trooper Sean McGarry, 32, was protecting a fellow officer questioning a motorist on Route 128 in Peabody at 2 a.m. when he was sideswiped in the breakdown lane by a second car. Police are looking for that culprit. McGarry suffered a leg injury.
July 5: Capt. Frank Hughes was struck by a car driven by an alleged drunk while directing traffic in Cambridge after the Fourth of July Pops concert. The force of the crash threw Hughes onto the car’s hood.
July 17: Trooper Corey Rose, 33, was conducting a traffic stop on Route 24 in Taunton when an alleged drunken driver rammed into his parked cruiser. Rose, sitting in the cruiser, was severely injured.
July 25: Trooper Paul Gifford’s foot was run over by an alleged drunken driver during a New Bedford traffic stop. Gifford was aiding a New Bedford officer who had pulled over an erratic driver.