A driver crashed into a police cruiser on Martha's Vineyard and then launched his truck off the Steamship Authority ferry ramp and into the water while attempting to evade arrest on domestic violence charges Thursday night.
Oak Bluffs police said one of their sergeants was on patrol around 9:30 p.m. Thursday and observed a Ford F-250 believed to be operated by a subject wanted for a domestic violence incident that had occurred in town earlier that evening. The sergeant attempted to stop the truck on Masonic Avenue, but id did not stop even after he activated his cruiser's lights and siren.
The truck continued driving toward Massasoit Avenue and eventually came to a stop. The sergeant, believing that the driver of the truck had given up, placed his cruiser in park.
The driver of the truck then put his truck in reverse, accelerating rapidly toward the cruiser and ramming into the front of the cruiser, causing significant damage. The truck then sped off toward Seaview Avenue at a high rate of speed.
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Due to the damage to the cruiser, the sergeant updated responding officers and was able to keep his cruiser driving slowly so he could still see the fleeing truck. He watched as the truck turned onto the gated ramp of the Steamship Authority dock at the corner of Seaview Avenue and Oak Bluffs Avenue. The truck then launched off the ferry ramp and into the water.
The sergeant then requested assistance from the Oak Bluffs Fire Department and the U.S. Coast Guard.
As additional police and fire personnel arrived at the scene, the driver of the truck was seen swimming away from the ramp and climbing a ladder onto a large piling. Oak Bluffs police and firefighters responded to the area in a boat and retrieved the driver from the piling. He was taken into custody and transported to Martha's Vineyard Hospital for minor hand injuries sustained when he got out of his truck.
The driver, whose name has not been released, was charged with two counts of assault and battery on a family or household member, assault and battery with a motor vehicle, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, two counts of vandalism, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, refusal to stop for police, trespassing with a motor vehicle and speeding.
He was held overnight at Dukes County Jail and scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Edgartown District Court.
The sergeant whose cruiser was struck was not injured. Police said the truck will be removed from the area of the Steamship Authority pier when the weather conditions improve.
