KINGSTON, MASS. (WHDH) - A 31-year-old Kingston man was arrested this week after a monthslong investigation into incidents of rocks allegedly being placed on a local roadway to damage passing vehicles, Kingston police announced.
Cameron Currier, 31, was arraigned on Tuesday morning on multiple charges linked to accusations that he placed large rocks in the roadway on Pembroke Street on various days dating back to February.
Police in a statement said the rocks weighed between 15 and 50 pounds and damaged multiple vehicles, ripping out undercarriages, causing fluid spills and triggering airbags in some cases.
Police said the rocks were placed in the middle of the road along a half-mile span of Pembroke Street near Reed Street, described as a heavily wooded and dark area with no residences directly abutting it.
“Clearly, this was incredibly dangerous,” police said.
Local driver Dustin Starr said he was driving home back in April when he hit a 50-pound rock in the road.
“It just launched up, we went way up and smacked right down,” he said.
Starr said he kept the rock he hit for insurance reasons and now hopes the person responsible pays up.
“What a jerk, you know?” he said. “I couldn’t imagine doing that to somebody over and over and over again knowing that it’s causing that damage and getting a kick out of it because, obviously, he kept doing it for a long time.”
Driver Austin Myette said he suffered a concussion when he hit a rock earlier this year. Myette said his airbags deployed and his windshield shattered.
“If I hit it another way, it could have killed me, it could have rolled the car,” he said.
Denise Thompson from Plymouth said she also drove over a boulder. She said she is one of the victims in this case, adding that her car’s transmission has to be replaced.
“They need to nail this guy,” Thompson said. “Don’t people have anything else better to do than try to see people wreck their cars?”
Kingston police said detectives took over the investigation into these incidents in June
“as the frequency and severity of the events increased.”
Police said the investigation “took significant effort” leading up to Monday night when police said a detective in camouflage headed into a wooded area in the rain around 10 p.m. “with a line of sight on the area of interest.”
Police said the detective later saw a vehicle stop in the area around midnight before pulling away. In its place, police said, was a rock.
Police in their statement said investigators found a suspect on his porch roughly 10 minutes after the alleged rock placement, spoke with him and eventually took him into custody.
Currier, who police said would have been able to hear crashes in these incidents from his house, was held on “significant bail” before his arraignment, according to police.
In court, defense attorney Timothy Shyne spoke.
“They don’t have an eyewitness to this defendant being there,” Shyne said. “They have an eyewitness, presumably, to hearing something and seeing a white truck.”
Kingston police said they requested criminal charges against Currier including 11 counts of malicious damage to a motor vehicle and nine counts of attempt to commit a crime: malicious damage to a motor vehicle.
Police said the 11 counts of malicious damage to a motor vehicle correspond to 11 vehicles known to be damaged in these incidents. Police continued, though, saying they believe there are more victims.
“It was apparent that some of these rocks that were found had been struck (significant gouges in road/rock) but the vehicle operator did not contact police,” police said. “Many of these individuals likely discovered damage later, and paid for it out of their own insurance/pocket.”
Police said their investigation into this incident was ongoing as of Monday and asked anyone who hit a rock on Pembroke Street/Route 27 near Reed Street since February to contact detectives at 781-585-0523 ext. 6662.
Currier posted bail and was home as of Tuesday afternoon. He is due back in court in September.
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