GREENFIELD — A 30-year-old Taunton man was arraigned on a number of drug-related charges in Greenfield District Court Wednesday, stemming from a car accident after this spring’s Wormtown Music Festival.
Police say Joel M. St. Germain was ejected from his vehicle after hitting a utility pole on Conway Street after the festival, but re-entered the car and continued driving, eventually stopping in the middle of the Mohawk Trail and displaying extremely erratic behavior toward police officers. He subsequently admitted to consuming “acid,” “shrooms” and “Molly” during the festival.
St. Germain pleaded innocent to charges of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, assault and battery on police officers, leaving the scene of property damage, resisting arrest, possession of a Class C drug and disorderly conduct.
According to a report by Greenfield police officer Patrick Merrigan, Merrigan was on patrol just after midnight on May 30 when the vehicle traveling in front of him stopped abruptly on the Mohawk Trail. As he got closer to the car, Merrigan wrote, he noticed the vehicle’s horn was sounding. Dispatch then advised officers of a report that a vehicle had struck a utility pole on Conway Street and left the scene.
Merrigan wrote that as he was listening to the dispatcher, a man — identified as St. Germain — jumped out of the vehicle in front of him and began sprinting toward his cruiser. Merrigan got out of the vehicle and the man ran up to him, flailing his arms.
“The male party appeared to be under the influence of drugs and/or having some type of mental crisis and his behavior was extremely erratic,” Merrigan wrote in the report.
According to the report, the man grabbed onto Merrigan’s arms and then pulled away, and then attempted to climb into the driver’s seat of his cruiser. Merrigan was able to pin him to the ground and realized it was the man’s vehicle that was involved in the hit-and-run, he wrote.
Merrigan was able to secure St. Germain with the help of a Railroad Police sergeant who had been waiting at a nearby red light and came over to assist. As Merrigan placed St. Germain in handcuffs, he wrote, he noticed a fluorescent wrist band given to attendees of the Wormtown Festival, a weekend Greenfield music festival, which he said is known for high drug use.
Merrigan also wrote in his report that the man appeared to switch moods in a matter of seconds, shouting that he was going to “murder” and “hates” the officers and then telling them how much he “loves” them in the same sentence.
Several other officers were dispatched to the scene to assist.
Officer Josh Lemay wrote in a report that he went to the initial crash scene and spoke with witnesses who said they saw St. Germain’s vehicle traveling on Conway Street with the driver’s side door open and the operator partially hanging out with his hand dragging on the ground. According to the report, the witnesses said the vehicle traveled into the oncoming lane and stuck a pole across the street so hard it ejected the operator out the driver’s side door and onto a front lawn. They told police the man got back onto his feet, began to scream and yell, got back in the car and drove away.
Merrigan wrote in his report that St. Germain’s car sustained heavy front-end damage and the airbag was deployed. The man told officers he had used drugs during the festival, according to the report, and officers located a glass jar containing marijuana — which had smashed during the scuffle — as well as a substance identified as hash oil in St. Germain’s pocket.
He was transported to the hospital by Medcare ambulance. The Greenfield Fire Department also responded.
St. Germain was released following his arraignment Wednesday and is due back in court Sept. 27 for a pretrial conference.