SALEM, Massachusetts — The Charlestown man who police say was intoxicated and carrying drugs when he crashed into two Maine police officers on I-95 in Kennebunk early Saturday was already on probation in Massachusetts for a burglary in Salem, court records show.
Anthony Menici, 33, was due to appear next week in Suffolk Superior Court for an unrelated probation violation hearing, his third alleged violation since being released from state prison in 2014, according to the case docket.
Maine state police and police from local departments in southern Maine were looking out for an erratic driver in a 2006 BMW that was described as being all over the road in the southbound lanes, the Portland Press Herald reported Saturday.
The police vehicles were stopped in the median of I-95 and watched as the BMW, still weaving between lanes, approached, then veered toward the police vehicles, striking the Wells, Maine, cruiser and causing it to roll into the northbound lanes.
The crash resulted in Menici being hospitalized at Southern Maine Health Care Center in Biddeford, the Press Herald reported.
Lt. Erik Baker of the Maine State Police said he believes Menici has been discharged and will face charges of drunken driving, driving to endanger and illegal possession of a controlled substance, Suboxone, a drug often used to treat opiate addiction.
Two police officers from the town of Wells were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
Menici, who was familiar to law enforcement on the North Shore, was arrested in February 2012 after a resident of Albion Street called police to report seeing a man entering a neighbor’s home.
Police caught up with him nearby on Scotia Street, and also found a bag containing jewelry, a laptop computer, a DVD player and a camera, as well as a backpack that contained four GPS devices, cash, more jewelry and a Beverly woman’s identification. He was also carrying a small police scanner.
Six months later, he was sentenced to two to three years in state prison, to be followed by three years of probation. The conditions of that probation included no use of alcohol or drugs, random alcohol and drug tests, substance abuse treatment, and no contact with the victim.
Court records show that his probation supervision was transferred to Suffolk County Superior Court because he had moved to Boston after his release.
A probation department spokeswoman said she was looking into the matter but would be able to confirm only Menici’s probation status and conditions, not details of any alleged violations.
Menici’s lawyer in the probation case did not return a call for comment prior to Monday’s Salem News deadline.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.