Man purposely placed large rocks on Route 27 for unsuspecting drivers to hit, Kingston, Mass., police say
By Veronica Haynes
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KINGSTON, Massachusetts (WCVB) — An arrest has been made after someone had been placing large rocks in the middle of a road over the past few months with the intention of damaging vehicles, Kingston, Massachusetts, police said.
Police in Kingston said since February, 15- to 20-pound rocks were appearing in the middle of a heavily wooded, sparsely populated part of Pembroke Street, which is Route 27.
“This portion of the road, spanning less than 1/2 mile, is heavily wooded and dark with no residences abutting the roadway. It became apparent someone was maliciously placing these rocks on the road to cause damage to vehicles,” police posted.
In some cases, it appeared vehicles hit the rocks but were able to continue. But some vehicles had their undercarriages ripped out, which caused fluid spills, or had their airbag deployed, police said.
“Clearly, this was incredibly dangerous. Investigators feared that someone may get seriously hurt or killed, whether it be striking a rock while operating a motorcycle or striking a rock, crossing the center line, and causing a head on collision,” police posted.
On Monday night, detectives opted for a less-conventional approach to get to the bottom of the occurrences. A detective dressed in full camouflage, positioned himself in the woods and watched the area. Shortly before midnight, the detective saw a pickup stop with an open tailgate and drop a rock in the middle of the road, police said. The vehicle then pulled onto Reed Street.
When officers approached the man at his home a few minutes later, he admitted driving the vehicle but denied stopping on Pembroke Road, police said.
Police noted the man’s house was within view of the area motorists would likely stop after hitting the rocks.
Cameron Currier, 31, was arrested and charged with 11 counts of malicious damage to a motor vehicle and nine counts of attempt to commit crime, malicious damage to a motor vehicle.
He will be arraigned Tuesday in Plymouth District Court.
Each of the counts represent a damaged vehicle that was reported to police, but police believe there may be more victims.
“It was apparent that some of these rocks that were found had been struck (significant gouges in road/rock) but the vehicle operator did not contact police. Many of these individuals likely discovered damage later, and paid for it out of their own insurance/pocket,” police posted.
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