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Police say Ray Bourque’s blood alcohol level was 3 times legal limit

Ray Bourque (at rear) during his arraignment Monday.WBZ-TV/CBS Boston

Bruins legend Ray Bourque’s blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit when his Mercedes struck a minivan carrying a group of teenagers in Andover on Friday night, according to a police report released Monday after the hockey icon’s arraignment for allegedly driving drunk.

Bourque, 55, of Boxford, was arraigned in Lawrence District Court on charges of operating under the influence of liquor and following another vehicle too closely. A not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf, and he was released on personal recognizance.

His lawyer, Gerard R. LaFlamme Jr., could not be reached for comment after the hearing.

According to an Andover police report, Bourque was driving a Mercedes Benz GL450 on Lowell Street when he rear-ended a minivan that was slowly entering a construction zone at about 11:25 p.m.

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An 18-year-old Andover woman was driving the minivan with two 17-year-old passengers inside. None of them were hurt, but the van suffered “heavy rear-end damage,” the report said.

Bourque also avoided injury, but Officer Jeffrey Arleque noticed “a heavy odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath,” the report said. Bourque, who was slurring his speech, told Arleque that he “had a few drinks at the Andover Country Club,” police said.

Club officials could not be reached for comment.

Bourque agreed to perform field sobriety tests and swayed from side to side after he exited his vehicle, the report said. He performed poorly on the tests and blew into a portable breathalyzer, which showed a blood alcohol level of .249, according to Arleque. The legal limit in Massachusetts is .08.

Bourque was arrested and taken to the police station for booking, where Lieutenant John Pathiakis asked if he would consent to another breathalyzer test. He refused after making a phone call, Pathiakis wrote in his report.

“During the booking process I found Bourque cooperative and polite,” Pathiakis wrote. “He questioned me many, many times about what happens if he takes or refuses the breath test. . . . During the entire time Bourque was present there was a strong odor of liquor coming from his breath, his speech was thick tongued, his eyes were red and glassy, and his face was red. It was my opinion that he was under the influence of liquor.”

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Bourque’s license was automatically suspended for 180 days after he refused the breath test, Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles records show. A working telephone number for the former Boston Bruins All-Star could not be located.

In a statement on Sunday, Bourque had requested privacy and said he was “not happy about the situation I put myself into on Friday night.” He also said he was happy no one was hurt.

Attempts to reach the families of the driver of the minivan and her two passengers for comment were unsuccessful on Monday night.

Initially, Bourque was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. But earlier Monday, LaFlamme filed a motion to move the hearing up a day, citing a separate jury trial that he had scheduled for Tuesday in Haverhill, court records show.

Although the change to Monday caught some media outlets off-guard, an assistant clerk magistrate, Mark Micale, said such motions are routine and approved when possible, regardless of the media attention directed at any given case.

“We try to do everything on the up and up,” Micale said. “There’s no favoritism or anything like that.”

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He said the requests are generally granted if the court has the staff and resources to accommodate them.

“We try to do the best we can for everyone, whether it’s for a defendant, whether it’s for attorneys, whether it’s for witnesses,” Micale said.

Joseph Waldbaum, a defense lawyer who specializes in operating-under-the influence cases in Massachusetts, said a request to move up an arraignment “is rare, but it can be done.”

Bourque was involved in prior accidents in 1991 in Boston, 1996 in Peabody, and 2013 in Danvers, according to a copy of his driving record provided by the Registry. Details of those accidents were not available on Monday night.

His next court hearing is scheduled for July 21.


Globe correspondent Felicia Gans and Martin Finucane of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe. Andy Rosen can be reached atandrew.rosen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @andyrosen.