Essex Police/Fire

July 22, 2008 04:40 am

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ESSEX — There were two fox sightings in Essex on Sunday. People under the impression that a fox was ill called the police at 11:56 a.m. to report it. The fox had been seen in the vicinity of Prospect Street and Western Avenue. When officers arrived, the fox was gone. So far, police have not been able to confirm the reports that the fox is sick. Another resident reported a fox at 10:55 p.m. The fox had been hit by a car on John Wise Avenue. Despite being hit, the animal was still mobile enough to have left the scene when the police arrived.

A resident called 911 to report a dog that was in on road on Eastern Avenue near the Gloucester Border. The 911 call came in Sunday at 3:41 p.m. The dog crossed into Gloucester where it was picked up by a citizen and taken to the animal shelter.

Police say a man was busy checking himself out in his rearview mirror when he crashed the pick-up truck he was driving into a parked car, through a fence and into some bushes on Friday afternoon.

The man, identified by police as Michael Curley, 30, of 67 Fair Oaks Ave., Lynn, was arrested on a charge of impeded operation and driving while under the influence of drugs, Percocet pills.

Patrolmen Justin Zwicker and James Romeos were responding to a report of an erratic driver at 4:43 p.m. Friday when they spotted the black Ford pick-up truck veering across the road and hitting a parked car. Police say they saw the driver leaning out his window, looking at himself in the mirror. He was also talking on his cell phone, according to police.

After hitting the parked car, the truck continued on through a fence and bushes, finally stopping in front of a house on Martin Street.

Both the truck and the parked car it hit had to be towed away, police said.

Curley was additionally charged with driving to endanger, using a motor vehicle without authority, driving with a revoked license and a marked lanes violation.

Police assisted a baby sitter who had locked herself out of a house on Eastern Avenue at 10:17 p.m. Friday. The baby sitter had stepped outside for a moment while the children were sleeping inside, and accidentally locked herself out.

Rescuers were able to get her back into the house.

Fabio Goncalves, 27, of Sohier Road, Beverly, was given a summons at 2:02 p.m. Saturday on charges of driving without a license and a marked lanes violation. Patrolman Thomas Sampson issued the summons on Western Avenue.