Concord Man Arrested After Hit-And-Run Drunken Driving Crash

CONCORD, NH — A Concord teen was arrested and held without bail after being accused of drunken driving during a hit-and-run accident on Pembroke Road on Tuesday.

Police were sent to the road near Keach Park around 8:20 p.m. for a report of a car crashing into a telephone pole and then, leaving the scene. The responding officer found a bag of Natural Light Beer and the witness gave them the registration of the car which was traced back to the Morning Star Condominium complex.

When the officer arrived there, a couple told them a car had "sped into the parking lot and drove to the northern rear portion (of the complex)." The officer found the car parked with its lights on, an affidavit stated, with two men outside of the vehicle screaming at a man in the driver's seat.

"Please give me the keys," one man said to the driver, according to police, who added that it appeared a fight might occur.

The officer separated the men with one telling the officer he was "not driving" and then he began yelling at the man in the car in Swahili, the report stated. The other man backed up the first man saying he was not driving the car, according to police.

The officer then spoke to the man who was in the driver's seat earlier, identified as Jonathan Ruharuka, 19, of Concord Gardens in Concord, as other officers arrived as backup. Ruharuka, according to the affidavit, denied driving the vehicle because he did not have a driver's license. He then started to walk away saying that everything was OK, the report said.

When he was asked for his information, "he laughed and would not provide me with it," the officer wrote.

"During this time, all of them continued to yell at each other and would not identify themselves to us and would not cooperate with us," the affidavit stated.

Ruharuka's speech was "slow and slurred," he smelled like alcohol, and his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, the report stated, and he was suspected to be the driver who was involved in the crash. A third officer spoke to the witness to get a description of the driver as well as a passenger. A fourth officer then showed up and the three men were questioned with Ruharuka being accused of attempting to walk away several times. Officers decided to handcuff him and he was accused of pulling away and after refusing to comply, was taken to the ground and handcuffed, the report stated.

While being escorted to a police cruiser, he was accused of spitting on one of the officers.

A Swahili interpreter was arranged to speak to one of the witnesses who stated he did not give Ruharuka permission to use his car, the officer wrote. When asked how he found out his car was involved in an accident, the man stated he couldn't find his keys and went outside to check on his vehicle and found Ruharuka in the driver's seat of his car, the affidavit stated.

The passenger was also questioned about the case and he, too, stated Ruharuka was driving the car, the report stated.

Inside of the car, the reporting officer found a receipt from seven hours before for a six-pack of beer purchased at a Loudon Road store, the officer wrote. The passenger confirmed that they were at the store earlier in the day, the officer wrote.

Ruharuka was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, conduct after; property damage, taking without owner's consent, simple assault, resisting arrest or detention, transport of alcohol by a minor, unlawful possession-intoxication, transportation of alcohol-open container, operating without a valid license, and breach of bail. According to the affidavit, he was arrested on March 8 (on second-degree assault-strangulation and burglary, both felonies, two counts of simple assault as well as single counts of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest or detention, and unlawful possession-intoxication, after an incident at Concord Gardens) and part of his bail conditions required him not to consume alcohol or drugs.

Ruharuka, the report said, was "repeating himself over and over again" during processing, refused the services of a bail commissioner, and was taken to the county jail.

Editor's note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord District Court and does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the removal request process for New Hampshire Patch police reports.

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