SANDY RIVER PLANTATION — Police said a Phillips man was arrested on a drunken-driving charge after he crashed his car, drove away and was stopped by two vehicles that pursued him to Route 4 in Avon.

John C. McCarter, 30, was charged with misdemeanor operating under the influence of alcohol, leaving the scene of a property-damage accident and failure to report an accident by quickest means, state police Trooper Keith Barton wrote in an email.

McCarter was taken to Franklin County Detention Center in Farmington. He was released on $150 cash bail Tuesday, a corrections officer said.

Barton said he discovered evidence of a car hitting a guardrail on Route 4 in Sandy River Plantation, just north of the Appalachian Trail head, about 3;28 p.m.  While investigating, he responded to a report of vehicles pursuing each another south on Route 4 in Phillips and found three stopped in Avon, next to Valley Brook Variety.

He determined that two of them pursued the one involved in the Sandy River Plantation crash and identified the driver as McCarter.

“I believe the cause of the crash was due to speed and alcohol impairment that caused functional front-end damage to the Toyota sedan he was driving,” Barton wrote. 

A conviction for drunken driving is punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000 fine. A conviction on each of the other charges is punishable by up to six months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine.

Barton was assisted by members of the U.S. Border Patrol and Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.

 dperry@sunmediagroup.net

John McCarter (Franklin County Detention Center)

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