Another Driver Charged with OUI in Thanksgiving Collision with State Police Cruiser

BOSTON, Nov. 25, 2016—A man with a revoked driver’s license was arraigned today for allegedly driving into four uniformed Boston Police officers earlier this week as they investigated a call for a person with a gun, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

VINCENT WEAKS (D.O.B. 6/5/82) of Dorchester was arraigned in Dorchester Municipal Court on four counts each of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and leaving the scene of a collision causing personal injury. Judge Jonathan Tynes set bail at $75,000 and ordered that Weaks wear a GPS monitor and abide by a curfew should he post that amount.

In addition to setting the high bail for the Nov. 23 incident, Tynes ordered Weaks held without bail pending a hearing to determine whether he had violated the terms of his probation on convictions last year for drug and assault charges.

Just before 1:00 am on Wednesday morning, prosecutors said, Boston Police officers responded to a radio call for a person with a gun in the area of 7-11 Stoughton St. While on scene, they observed a man dressed in a black jacket, black sweatshirt, and gray sweatpants enter a vehicle with a Connecticut license plate. At about the same time, they received an updated description of the suspect as dressed in black and operating a vehicle with Connecticut plates.

The officers approached this man, who is alleged to be Weaks, and instructed him to exit the vehicle. He refused those instructions and allegedly reached to shift the car into drive. Two officers attempted to reach for the car keys and shifter as the operator drove from the scene, and they were dragged a distance of about 20 feet. The suspect vehicle also struck two other officers who had approached the vehicle to assist the first two, then struck the rear of a second vehicle as it sped from the scene.

Boston EMS transported all four officers to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where one was treated for a fractured elbow. The others were treated for less serious injuries including lacerations, bruises, and contusions.

Later the same morning, a member of Weaks’ family notified police that she had rented a vehicle for him and believed it might be the one police were looking for. With his photo and personal identifying information, detectives traveled to his home and found him on the street nearby. Detectives also located the relative’s rented vehicle – the license plate of which matched the one on the car that injured the officers – in West Roxbury.

Also in Dorchester court today, Suffolk prosecutors arraigned a Roxbury man for operating under the influence and various civil infractions for allegedly driving drunk and striking a State Police cruiser on Route 93 southbound last night.

REGINALD PRYAM (D.O.B. 9/27/76) was held on $5,000 cash bail for allegedly causing the collision, which left a State trooper with minor injuries. Prosecutors say Pryam failed to change lanes to avoid colliding with the cruiser, which was stationary with blue lights active behind a disabled motor vehicle near Exit 12. He failed a series of field sobriety tests and later blew a .16, indicating twice the legal blood-alcohol content for driving, on a Breathalyzer test.

Weaks will return to court on Dec. 19 and Pryam on Dec. 15.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.