Police and Fire News

Victim critical after hit & run; Truro crash; Rescue at sea; YPD nabs another wanted person

Teen pedestrian critically injured in hit & run; suspect caught

DENNIS - A 17-year old male pedestrian was critically injured after apparently being struck by a vehicle that then fled the scene. It happened around 10:40 PM here on Route 28 in West Dennis just west of Trotting Park Road. Medflight was unavailable due to fog so the victim 17-year old Michael Carapezza of Dennis was rushed to Cape Cod Hospital. Police put out a APB for the vehicle described as a full sized light colored pickup truck possibly a Ford or Dodge with damage to the passenger side. Dennis Police assisted by an accident reconstruction officer from Harwich are investigating the incident. Busy Route 28 was closed for three and a half hours while the investigation was completed. 

It apparently didn't take that long for police to catch a suspect. They tell CWN at approximately 8:55 AM on Sunday Harwich Patrolman Paul Boorack, a member of the Cape Cod Regional Law Enforcement Accident Reconstruction Unit, was returning from the accident scene and observed a vehicle matching the description of the suspect vehicle parked in the lot of an apartment complex on Route 28 in Dennisport.  The vehicle also had recent damage consistent with the accident.

A short time later Dennis Police located the owner of the vehicle and following further investigation charged him with three (3) motor vehicle charges related to the accident: 1) Leaving the Scene of a Personal Injury Motor Vehicle Accident; 2) Operating to Endanger and 3) Failure to Drive within Marked Lanes.  An additional charge of Operating an Un-inspected Motor Vehicle was also filed. The driver is identified as Paul N. Ellis, 44 years of age, of 130 Route 28 West Dennis. Mr. Ellis will be summoned to appear in Orleans District Court at a (unknown) future date.  Image courtesy of Microsoft local/live. 

Driver flees from dramatic crash in Truro
Driver later turns himself in with attorney present

     ^{A car was impaled by a guardrail in a crash in Truro}
TRURO - Authorities are amazed the driver of this sedan managed to escape and flee. The car struck a guardrail on Shore Road just south of Highland Road. The guardrail crushed the front passenger door and penetrated all the way into the trunk. An air bag deployed and likely saved the driver from serious injury. A K-9 dog from Wellfleet attempted to track the driver but without luck. Truro Police tell Cape Wide News the driver later turned himself in with an attorney present. 42-year old Denis Moynihan of New York City faces charges of leaving the scene of a property damage accident, operating to endanger, speed greater than reasonable and failing to stay in marked lanes. An internet search lists Moynihan as an outreach cordinator for a syndicated radio & TV news program called Democracy Now! Scene photo by Tim Caldwell. Photo right from Democracy Now! website.

Rescue at sea off Provincetown
PROVINCETOWN - Two men were rescued after a harrowing ordeal at sea. The fishing vessel Sea Princess sent a Mayday before reportedly capsizing and sinking off Race Point as shown on the map late Saturday afternoon. The two people on board 43-year old William Picken of North Chelmsford and 42-year old Robert Wilson of Brant Point were able to don survival suits and get into a life raft. A rescue boat from Coast Guard Station Provincetown plucked the men to safety and brought them into Provincetown as seen to right. The cause of the sinking is unclear. There were some more anxious moments early Saturday morning when a report came in of another vessel capsized with possible people in the water just outside the breakwater in Provincetown Harbor. A Coast Guard patrol boat searched the area but nothing had been found as of press time.
Map courtesy of Mapquest; photo by Tim Caldwell

Yarmouth Police arrest another wanted person
YARMOUTH - For the second time in as many days Yarmouth Police arrest a wanted person in their town. Police say just before 3 PM Friday Patrol Investigator Christopher Van Ness observed a woman known to him as being the subject of outstanding warrants traveling as a passenger in a 2000 Ford Explorer on Winslow Gray Road in West Yarmouth.

Patrol Investigator Van Ness conducted a vehicle stop on Forest Road and placed 23-year old Tinisha Lopes of Hyannis under arrest. the outstanding charges were:  Default Warrant for 3 Counts of Larceny by Check from Wareham District Court, Default Warrant for Larceny by Check from Falmouth District Court, Default Warrant for Larceny by Check from Orleans District Court, Default Warrant for Larceny by Check from Orleans District Court, Default Warrant for Refusing to Identify Herself and Operating with a Suspended License from Falmouth District Court.

Lopes was transported to Yarmouth Police Headquarters and then subsequently transferred to the Barnstable County Correctional Facility in Bourne where she is being held without bail until arraignment in court on Monday. Photo furnished by Yarmouth Police.