A Winthrop man with seven prior convictions for drunk driving is being held without bail following his arraignment this week on his eighth such case, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

JOSEPH F. LIMONE (D.O.B. 6/18/51) gave a false name and failed each and every one of the field sobriety tests State Police administered during his July 12 arrest off Revere Beach Parkway, Conley said.

At his arraignment in Chelsea District Court yesterday, Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Brandt recommended that Limone be held without bail pending a July 18 dangerousness hearing; Judge Diana Maldonado granted that request. Limone is charged with operating under the influence as a fifth or subsequent offense, operating with a revoked license, furnishing a false name as an arrestee, malicious destruction of property, making a harsh or objectionable noise in the operation of a motor vehicle, and civil offenses.

“There’s no excuse for a person with this driving record being on the road,” Conley said. “If holding him without bail is what it takes to accomplish that, then we’re going to take that step.”

Limone attracted the attention of a State trooper on patrol at Revere Beach just before 5:00 p.m. Tuesday. He was allegedly sounding the horn of his 1988 Lincoln Town Car repeatedly, swerving, driving very closely behind another vehicle, and yelling, apparently at its driver.

The car ahead of Limone’s pulled over and the trooper saw Limone pull his vehicle alongside it while continuing to yell. The trooper activated his lights and siren, prompting Limone to pull away from that car, travel north a short distance, and drive the wrong way down Beach Street, a one-way street.

As the trooper exited his cruiser, Limone allegedly left his car as well, appearing unsteady on his feet and leaning against the Town Car for support. He followed the trooper’s instruction to get back into his car. When asked for his license and registration, Limone allegedly produced his registration but said he didn’t have a license with him. When asked his name, Limone allegedly identified himself as “Richard Fasanelli.”

The trooper immediately detected the strong odor of alcohol coming from Limone. When asked how much he had been drinking, Limone allegedly responded, “Two shots.”
The trooper administered a series of four field sobriety tests. Limone allegedly failed all of them, being unable to recite the alphabet properly, stand on one leg, walk a straight line, or follow the movement of a pen without moving his head. At this point, the trooper placed Limone under arrest and secured him in the rear of the cruiser.

Limone became extremely agitated at this point, using obscene language and allegedly telling the trooper, “Get the cuffs off me and I will [expletive] you up. Just you and me.”

Upon arrival at the Revere Barracks, Limone allegedly kicked out the cruiser’s right rear window. That action did not dissipate the strong smell of alcohol that had filled the cruiser after his arrest.

Limone was so combative and resistant outside the barracks that troopers were forced to discharge chemical sprays at him to transport him into the building. Once inside, Limone allegedly tried to swing a bench at the troopers, only to find that it was secured to the wall by a cable. At that point, he allegedly tried to pull the cable from the wall. Troopers again discharged their chemical spray to subdue him, then notified medical personnel, who treated him for minor, self-inflicted injuries to his hands and feet.

Limone’s record includes offenses dating back to 1970. It includes OUI convictions in Essex and Suffolk counties in 1983, Suffolk County in 1984, Essex County in 1987 and 1996, and Middlesex County in 2001 and 2007. That latter offense is currently on appeal before the Supreme Judicial Court.

Limone is represented by attorney John Maclachlan. He will return to court on July 18 for a hearing under Ch. 276, Sect. 58A, of the Massachusetts General Laws, which allow a judge to hold a defendant without bail for up to 90 days pending trial upon “clear and convincing evidence that no conditions of release will reasonably assure the safety of any other person or the community.”