By Jim Clark

A Somerville Police officer was conducting routine patrols in his assigned area in the early morning hours last Sunday when he came across a car stopped in the middle of Powder House rotary, facing the wrong way.

Smoke was coming from the vehicle and there was a man, later identified as Jarred Parker, of Burlington, standing outside of the vehicle’s driver’s side door. The officer relayed the information to dispatch and called for backup.

As the officer approached the vehicle, he noticed that there was extensive damage to the front bumper, all four tires were flat, and the airbags deployed.

The officer asked Parker if he was the operator of the vehicle, to which he reportedly stated, “Yes.”  

The officer asked Parker what happened and he reportedly said that he was operating the vehicle west bound on Broadway, and when he was approaching the rotary, he hit the median which caused him to lose control of the vehicle.

The officer reportedly smelled a strong odor of alcohol coming from Parker and his speech was slurred. He asked Parker where he was coming from and he said the casino.

Parker was also asked if he had any alcohol beverages and he reportedly stated that he had three beers at the casino and a beer at a bar prior to the accident.

EMT arrived on scene to medically evaluate Parker, who was cleared and declined being transported to a hospital.

The officer informed Parker that due to his observations and the information that he provided he would be conducting field sobriety tests.

Parker complied and the officer brought him to a well-lighted, flat, non-slippery surface for testing.

After failing to pass the sobriety tests, the officer informed Parker that he was under arrest for operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor and transported to the Police Station for booking.

After the booking, Parker reportedly consented to a blood analysis, which determined an alcohol concentration of 0.16%.