This story was first posted Wednesday night. An updated version ran in Thursday’s newspaper. The following version was updated at 1:50 p.m. on Thursday.
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Lebanon
Jeffrey Caron, 48, is the executive director of Mount Prospect Academy in Plymouth, N.H., and also works for its affiliate, Vermont Permanency Initiative Inc.
Kellen Fitzgibbon-Bizel, 31, of Thornton, N.H., also works for both of those agencies, according to a news release issued by David Chabot, the legal affairs director of Becket Family Services, which is the umbrella organization of the two entities. Fitzgibbon-Bizel is the facilities director for the school in Plymouth.
Lebanon police said Caron, of Plymouth, N.H., was drinking and erratically driving westbound around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday morning when his car drifted off the edge of the road near Bagley’s Corner and slammed into a telephone pole.
Fitzgibbon-Bizel, who was a passenger in the car, had several drugs in his possession at the time of the crash, according to a police news release.
Caron sustained minor injuries and was transported to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center for treatment.
The motorist who was driving behind Caron and Fitzgibbon-Bizel had her video camera rolling for at least one minute prior to when Caron struck the utility pole, police said. She followed the vehicle from Enfield into Lebanon.
The video shows the vehicle swerving back and forth and tailgating the vehicle in front of him as he continues west toward the new Route 4/4A bridge.
The vehicle then drifts over the white line on the right side of the roadway while rounding a corner and drives onto the dirt shoulder. Seconds later, the vehicle slams into the pole, lurching upward.
The woman recording the video, Christine Eggleston, appears to drop the camera and the video cuts out. She was relatively silent throughout the video, only uttering the words “oh my God” on one occasion.
In an email, Eggleston said she saw the car swerving just before the elementary school in Enfield, but didn’t think too much of it until the car began driving more erratically. She took out her phone to snap a picture of the car’s license plate, she said, and that’s when the car “really swerved into traffic,” prompting her to hit record.
Just before the car struck the pole, “I thought, my God, he thinks he can pass there,” she said. Lebanon police shared Eggleston’s video on the city’s YouTube account.
Caron and Fitzgibbon-Bizel both were released on $10,000 personal recognizance bail pending their arraignments in Lebanon District Court on Jan. 9, according to the release.
Caron faces misdemeanor reckless driving and driving under the influence charges. Fitzgibbon-Bizel faces five felony counts of possessing a controlled drug. He allegedly had several unprescribed narcotics in his possession, police said.
Route 4 was shut down for several hours while crews worked the scene. One travel lane was reopened around 1 p.m. Wednesda
Lebanon Police Chief Richard Mello said he doesn’t know whether the woman who recorded the crash had her camera in her hand while she was driving, an act that is illegal in New Hampshire.
But even if she did, he said, she wouldn’t face repercussions. “The greater good rule would apply,” Mello said.
The crash remains under investigation. Mello said the exact reason that Caron drifted into the pole is unclear but impairment played a role.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.