MBTA Transit Police officer facing drunk driving charge after alleged crash

A Boston MBTA Transit Police officer is facing a drunk driving charge and has been placed on “modified duty” after he allegedly drove up onto the sidewalk and crashed his car into a pole, according to the Boston Herald.

Jonathan Daveiga, 27, of Wayland, was arrested and charged with operating under the influence of alcohol Oct. 19 after Massachusetts State Police responded to a single-car crash at the Leverett Circle intersection, according to State Trooper Luis Blanco. The crash allegedly took place in the early hours of the morning, the Herald reported.

Daveiga was also charged with failing to stop or yield, according to court records. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Oct. 20 in the Charlestown division of Boston Municipal Court and was released on personal recognizance.

State Police told the Herald that they found Daveiga’s gray Jeep Grand Cherokee on the curb “with the front panel of the vehicle pressed up onto a ‘no left turn’ sign.” Though Daveiga claimed that he had only had two drinks approximately two hours before the crash, officers had suspicions that he was intoxicated.

“Due to the odor of an alcoholic beverage, his slurred speech, vomit inside and outside the vehicle, and his statements of having consumed alcoholic beverages prior in the night, I determined that it was necessary to perform assessments to determine if he was able to operate a motor vehicle,” State Trooper John Cherwek told the Herald.

Cherwek determined that Daveiga was impaired after several tests, the Herald reported. Daveiga also allegedly refused to take a portable breathalyzer test, which, when arrested for operating under the influence, is grounds for an automatic driver’s license suspension under state law.

“We have faith in the judicial process and in the interim have placed the officer on modified duty while said process progresses through the system,” Transit Police Superintendent Richard Sullivan told the Herald in response to the incident. “The Transit Police Department upon learning of the incident made a timely notification to the Massachusetts POST Commission.”

Daveiga is due back in court Dec. 19, records show.