Mattapoisett police chief arraigned on drunk driving charge, balked at cooperating with state trooper

Mattapoisett Police Chief Mary R. Lyons initially refused to get out of her car after being stopped by State Police as a suspected drunk driver on Saturday and allegedly twice pretended to perform a breath alcohol test, according to court records.

In a court appearance that lasted less than a minute, Lyons was arraigned Monday in Falmouth District Court on a misdemeanor charge of operating under the influence. She was also issued a civil violation for marked lanes, according to court records.

She pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance.

It was not immediately clear what impact her arrest will have on her job. Lyons was immediately placed on paid administrative leave and a captain was made acting chief, according to Town Administrator Michael Lorenco.

“The town is taking the matter very seriously and is thoroughly examining the details of the case,” he wrote in an e-mail Monday. “Citizens can expect appropriate and swift action following our investigation.”

According to a police report filed in court, Lyons was driving her 2014 Lexus on Route 28 in Falmouth around 10:52 p.m. Saturday when Trooper Patrick A. Bosworth allegedly saw the vehicle veer from the right travel lane to halfway into the middle lane and then back to the right lane.

At least one driver had also reported an erratic driver, Bosworth wrote.

The traffic stop was recorded by the cruiser’s camera and his interactions with Lyons were recorded by a body camera, Bosworth wrote.

Lyons handed over her driver’s license and the trooper wrote he “detected an odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from inside the driver’s area. I observed Lyons’s speech to be slurred and her eyes to be blood­ shot and glassy. I asked Lyons if she had anything to drink to which she stated ‘ I have not.’ "

Bosworth asked Lyons‚ who said she was coming from a golf course, to step out of the vehicle. “ ‘I won’t,’ " Lyons allegedly replied, according to the trooper. “ ‘I don’t actually feel I have to.’ "

Bosworth wrote that he returned to his cruiser and then walked back to Lyons who was still in her car.

“After stating to Lyons I wanted to make sure she was ok to drive she stated ‘I’m not challenging you by any means. By anyway but, I am the Police Chief of Mattapoisett,’ " Bosworth wrote

Lyons then did step out of her car and walked behind it where the trooper initiated the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, but she said she was wearing contacts and had bad knees and hips that prevented her from properly performing the test.

Another trooper brought a portable chemical breath test machine to the scene and Lyons was initially reluctant to use it, and the troopers had to explain multiple times how the device, routinely used by police statewide, functioned.

“Lyons pretended to blow into the PBT [portable breath test] in each of the two attempts,’' Bosworth wrote. “Concluding my observations. I determined Lyons was intoxicated.”

Lyons was handcuffed, but had difficulty getting into the rear seat of the marked State Police cruiser, he wrote, so the police chief was allowed to keep her cuffed hands in front of her during the ride to the Bourne State Police barracks.

When they arrived, Lyons had freed herself, he wrote.

“While assisting Lyons in exiting my cruiser I observed she had removed her handcuffs. She was booked, photographed, and fingerprinted,” he wrote.

Lyons refused to take a breath test at the barracks and was apologetic to the troopers.

“ ‘I know I am putting you in a bad position, bud,’ " she said, according to Bosworth.

The Registry of Motor Vehicles suspended Lyons’s license for 180 days for her refusal to take a chemical breath test, a spokeswoman for the agency said.