AMHERST — A 2012 University of Massachusetts graduate who recently served as a police dispatcher in Needham is joining the Amherst Police Department.
Daniel M. Sohn, 27, was recently appointed a patrol officer following a selection process and interviews with Police Chief Scott Livingstone and Town Manager Paul Bockelman.
The son of Stuart and Jo-Ann Sohn of Waltham, he earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a criminal justice concentration from UMass. Sohn graduated from the Municipal Police Training Committee at the Randolph Regional Police Academy Jan. 20.
Sohn, who is beginning his 12-week field officer training, is also a licensed EMT.
Granby police
respond to crashes
GRANBY — Police responded to two car crashes Sunday afternoon that police said had serious potential for injury.
The crashes happened two hours apart from one another, according to a post on the department’s Facebook page.
The first crash occurred just before 1:30 p.m. on Route 116 near the intersection of Amherst Street.
The driver, Marie King, 59, of Chicopee, was heading south when she lost control of the car, went off the road and struck some trees, according to Sgt. Kevin O’Grady.
King’s Mazda MX5 then left the scene, he said. King was stopped a short time later by South Hadley Police near the Village Commons, O’Grady said.
She was issued a criminal citation although O’Grady declined to provide specifics. She was not injured, he said.
Around 3:30 p.m., a Honda Fit hopped a concrete parking block in the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot on State Street and hit the building.
The adult female driver was uninjured, O’Grady said.
He said the woman hit the gas instead of the break when she tried to enter the parking lot.
A decorative post was knocked down and the car had a flat tire.
Police are investigating a break-in to a Summerfield Road home in which the resident returned at 7:58 p.m. Sunday and discovered the front door’s window smashed. Inside the home, lights were found on and all four bedrooms were ransacked. It’s not yet known if any belongings were stolen from the residence, police said.
Eggs were splattered on a home and a vehicle on Owen Drive in an incident reported a 6:30 a.m. Saturday.
Even though he was advised by college-age people to mind his own business, a resident called police after observing them push a couch into the middle of North Pleasant Street north of the UMass campus at 3:29 a.m. Saturday. Officers were able to get the couch to the side of the road and notified the Department of Public Works to get rid of it. Officers later spoke to the tenants about putting the couch in the road, and about several broken bottles found smashed on the sidewalk.
A 21-year-old Franklin man will be summoned to court on a charge of malicious destruction of property under $250 after he allegedly used a chair and a container of Tide laundry detergent to break a window inside a multi-dwelling apartment building on Amity Street at 10:52 p.m. Friday. The man, covered in dirt and detergent, allegedly got into the building through an unlocked door, rummaged around an apartment and was located a short time later, admitting that he caused the damage, according to police.
Michael J. Lamoureux, 30, of 267 Crescent St., Apt. 1R, was arrested at 11:52 p.m. Sunday on charges of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, operating with a suspended license, speeding and violating marked lanes. There was also a warrant for his arrest out of Brighton District Court for assault and battery. Police said Lamoureux was pulled over in the area of Bridge Street Elementary School on Parsons Street for speeding and crossing road lines.
Police responded at about 3:48 p.m. Sunday to the home of Mark M. Ducharme, 48, of 18 Summer St. He was arrested on a warrant out of Hampden Superior Court for violation of probation.