Westmoreland Man Arrested On DUI, Other Charges, After Concord Crash

CONCORD, NH ? A man from Westmoreland faces drunken driving and other charges after being accused of fleeing from police and crashing into a parked car last month.

Lochland Carter, 20, of Glebe Road in Westmoreland, was arrested at 6:30 a.m. on Sept. 5, driving under the influence, resisting arrest or detention, disobeying an officer, conduct after an accident, and reckless operation charges, as well as unsafe lane change, failure to drive on the ride side of the road, and traffic control device violations.

Around 4:30 a.m., while just finishing up a directed patrol of parking garages due to loitering and criminal mischief issues, an officer was driving in the Storrs Street Garage when they saw a man in the driver?s seat of a backed-in vehicle ?rapidly? exit the third level ?at an unreasonably fast pace for the interior of a parking garage,? a report said. The car exited directly behind another vehicle, and both turned left onto Storrs Street, heading north. Both vehicles were stopped at a red light at the directional at Storrs and Pleasant Street Extension. The driver of the car that caught the officer?s attention inside the garage was ?frantically turning his head to the left as if to look in his mirrors,? the officer wrote. The driver then ?suddenly? drove across the double yellow line, into the southbound travel lane, and ?darted? onto Pleasant Street Extension, an affidavit said.

The officer activated their cruiser lights as the ?vehicle rapidly pulled away? on Pleasant Street and the officer began to chase the vehicle, the report stated. The officer also informed dispatch of the chase.

At the intersection with State Street, the vehicle turned south, and the officer ended the pursuit. Later, they heard ?a muffled bang,? and as they approached the State Street intersection, the officer saw the vehicle had crashed into a car in a parking lot near the intersection.

?The vehicle was smoking,? the officer wrote, ?and all the airbags had deployed.?

The officer exited the cruiser, found the 2014 Volkswagen Jetta unoccupied, and was told by a witness the driver ran toward Main Street.

Another officer radioed they were with a man a couple of blocks away on North Main Street.

The man was injured and those injuries ?appeared consistent with a motor vehicle crash,? the report stated. The driver, later identified as Carter, who had ?a history of resisting arrest,? matched the description of the vehicle?s driver. Carter, according to New Hampshire State Police reports, was arrested on domestic violence-simple assault and simple assault charges in September 2022 and escape, criminal mischief, and resisting arrest or detention charges in July 2023. The vehicle was registered to a family member, the officer wrote.

The first officer went to speak with Carter, accused him of having ?bloodshot and glossy? eyes, and not being able to articulate any words as he spoke, the report stated.

?Without prompting, he announced that ?someone stole his car,?? the officer stated.

Carter was accused of having a hard time balancing himself and walking and was detained, the officer wrote. The officer said Carter ?kept saying he was going to throw up inside the cruiser? and also complained of arm pain. When asked if it was the car crash, ?Lochland said it was,? the officer wrote.

Concord fire and rescue teams were requested and took him to Concord Hospital.

The reporting officer viewed security footage from surveillance cameras and accused Carter of entering the garage around 4 a.m. Another man, with a beard, was in the passenger seat, and a second man was in the back seat. About 23 minutes later, the vehicle left the garage with only a driver inside, the report said. The two other men were seen leaving the garage on foot and walking onto Storrs Street.

The officer identified the two other men and spoke with them by phone later. One said the three of them had breakfast earlier at a diner in Manchester, but two decided to leave at the garage since Carter was acting ?weird,? the affidavit said.

During an interview at the hospital later, Carter said he ?jumped out of a car,? and would not admit to driving it before the crash, the affidavit said. Later, in a witness statement, he scribbled, ?Jumped out of my car, car was stolen,? the officer wrote. While speaking, the officer accused him of having ?altered time/distance perception,? common with cannabis use, as well as having dilated pupils, the report said.

Carter refused both field sobriety and blood tests at the hospital and was closing his eyes while attempting multiple times to sign the paperwork, the officer said.

Later, Carter was taken to police headquarters, processed, refused bail, and was taken to county. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 6.

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