Opinion ID: 2334050
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: While off duty as a patrolman for the Shelburne Police Department, defendant and several fellow employees spent an evening at a restaurant on Williston Road in South Burlington, Vermont. At about midnight, defendant and another officer, Doreen Guthrie, left and drove in separate cars side by side on Williston Road toward Burlington. They were speeding. At the Gaynes shopping center, a car pulled out of the parking lot in defendant's path of travel in the left-hand lane. Defendant swerved to the left, striking the bumper of a taxi going in the opposite direction. It was a glancing blow, and defendant was able to keep his car under control. According to defendant, he turned off Williston Road through a jug handle, drove to a point where he could see the accident scene, looked and saw no vehicles there, and, after checking the damage, which was slight, drove to a friend's apartment in Burlington as earlier planned. Finding no one home, defendant drove to his brother's house, also in Burlington. Once there, he received a telephone call from a friend informing him that the police were aware of the accident and were looking for him. Defendant then called the police some forty-five minutes after the accident. The police had learned of the accident and defendant's role in it because a South Burlington officer had stopped Officer Guthrie for speeding, and she told him about it.