Officers have charged a Barnstable Police sergeant with operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol following an accident occurring earlier last week.
46-year-old Christopher Challies, who was on administrative leave for a prior incident, was involved in a single vehicle accident on route 6A at approximately 8:40 Monday evening.
The vehicle struck a utility pole in the area of 151 Main Street near the Sandwich town line; the section of road was closed for approximately 15 hours as crews worked to replace the pole.
Challies told Barnstable Police he was briefly distracted by his cell phone; he was taken to Cape Cod Hospital.
Police investigated the scene of the accident and discovered the vehicle traveled nearly 75 yards off the road prior to striking the utility pole; the damage to the vehicle along with the distance traveled was not consistent with a telephone distraction.
A follow up investigation led police to charging Challies with Operating Under the Influence of Alcohol, Operating to Endanger, and Failure to Stay within Marked Lanes.