By OWEN BOSS
Staff Writer
SOUTH HADLEY — A suspected drunken driver awoke a small neighborhood early Saturday morning when his pickup truck left the road, broke through a picket fence, struck a parked car, and knocked a family’s shed off of its foundation before becoming stuck in the mud.
Roger Masse, 48, of Ridge Road in South Hadley, pleaded innocent Monday in Eastern Hampshire District Court to charges of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and two counts of leaving the scene of an accident with property damage.
At 1:40 a.m. Saturday morning, police responded to the area of 20 Richview Ave., for a report that a car had struck someone’s house and reportedly found Masse’s 1988 Ford Ranger stuck in the mud in a resident’s backyard, according to court documents.
Masse, who narrowly avoided going off a small cliff, reportedly told emergency responders at the scene he thought he was more than a mile away on Ridge Road at the time of the accident, according to a report filed by officer Eric Ortiz.
Lauren Harris, 26, a Richview Avenue resident, wasn’t home when the crash occurred but said fresh tire tracks behind her house and the victim’s tell the story of what happened that night.
“The truck got stuck on the dog run that was attached to their house and you can see the tire marks in number 20’s back yard where he saw the gully, backed up, and then drove through the tree line and hit their shed,” Harris said.
Lt. Steven Parentella said the accident resulted in no injuries and damage to the structure Masse allegedly struck was minor.
Judge John Payne Jr. released Masse on his own recognizance and he is scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on March 30.
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com
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