A Mason man was charged with driving while intoxicated early Saturday morning following a crash that landed the car he was driving upside down on the banks of the Contoocook River, Peterborough Police Chief Scott Guinard said Sunday afternoon.
Nicholas Grigas, 27, of Churchill Road, Mason, was driving a 2014 Infiniti south on Concord Street/Route 202 when he failed to either turn left onto Pine Street or right onto the Main Street Bridge and instead went through fencing on Pine Street next to the bridge, Guinard said.
“He essentially went straight,” he said.
The Infiniti fell about 30 feet and landed on its roof on the east bank of the Contoocook River.
“The car was not in the water,” Guinard said.
Police along with Peterborough Fire & Rescue were called to the scene right at midnight, Guinard and Peterborough Fire Chief Ed Walker said.
The driver was extracted from the vehicle, lifted up to Pine Street/Route 202 and taken by ambulance to Monadnock Community Hospital with a head injury, Walker said on scene early Saturday morning.
“He went through the fence right by the Jack Daniel sign there,” Walker said.
From the time they responded, it took about two hours for Peterborough Fire & Rescue workers to lift Grigas up to Pine Street.
“We had to get him out of the vehicle, and what took the most time was getting the whole system set up with the area ladder and the Stokes basket and the ropes and everything,” Walker said.
Guinard and Walker said Grigas was the only occupant of the vehicle.
Grigas had his head bandaged and a neck brace put on him, and was standing and talking with police and rescue workers before getting into the Stokes basket to be lifted back up to the street.
He was taken to Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough where he was treated and released for his injuries, Guinard said Sunday. While at the hospital police arrested and charged him with DWI. He was released on personal recognizance bail and given an Aug. 12 court date in the Jaffrey district court.
The car was removed from the banks of the river about an hour later. Guinard said the Infiniti had extensive damage and was likely a total loss.
Pine Street, which is also Route 202, was closed at the Main Street Bridge to all traffic during the rescue and car removal.