HomeTop StoriesUxbridge Chief Inspector Michael Baldassarre arrested for drink driving

Uxbridge Chief Inspector Michael Baldassarre arrested for drink driving

UXBRIDGE – Uxbridge Superintendent Michael Baldassarre is facing a drunk driving charge after police allege he was driving 100 miles per hour and nearly caused a crash on Interstate 495 in Bolton over the weekend.

Baldassare, 51, of Concord, was arraigned Tuesday in Clinton District Court on criminal charges of operating while under the influence of alcohol and negligent driving, and civil violations of speeding and plain lane violation.

He was released on personal recognizance.

He declined to comment as he left the courtroom.

The Uxbridge School Committee will vote Tuesday night on the appointment of an interim superintendent, the agenda shows, and will also hold a board meeting to discuss a staff member.

According to a statement of facts filed in Clinton District Court, Baldassarre was arrested by state police at 2:40 a.m. Saturday on northbound I-495.

Trooper Losival M. Cardoso Filho wrote that he and a field training officer patrolling the highway saw Baldassarre’s 2022 Toyota Camry speeding and swerving before nearly causing a crash, according to court records.

The officer said he saw the Camry traveling at 100 mph in a 65 mph zone.

“I observed the vehicle nearly colliding with the white vehicle traveling next to the suspect’s vehicle in the left lane,” the officer wrote in a report, adding that he then pulled the vehicle over with his emergency lights.

The soldier said he informed Baldassarre that he was being recorded with a body-worn camera. He noticed that Baldassarre’s eyes were red, glassy and bloodshot, the report said.

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He claimed that Baldassarre’s speech was slurred and that he smelled a strong odor of alcohol on his breath.

Filho wrote that when asked, Baldassarre told him that he had had a few glasses of wine “maybe three hours ago.”

Filho said he arrested Baldassarree after his eyes showed signs of impairment and after he failed or refused to take several field sobriety tests, including a preliminary breath test, the report said.

Filho said Baldassarre was uncooperative at the Leominster Atate police barracks and refused to answer whether he understood his rights, the trooper wrote.

“Baldassarre refused to respond verbally if he consented to a breath test, and he did not sign the legal rights and consent form indicating his refusal to take the breath test,” Filho wrote.

Filho said Baldassarre told him he wanted to take a “provable blood test.” The officer said he told Baldassarre he was entitled to a comparative blood test at his own expense, but was only asked to take a breath test.

“Baldassarre was even given time to read the form himself because he could not understand what we were asking him to do,” Filho wrote.

The trooper said that while taking inventory of the items in Baldassarre’s possession, he found a receipt from Victory Cigar Bar in Worcester at 11:15 p.m. that evening.

According to the officer, the receipt contained a cigar, two ‘Taylor 10 years Tawny’. [a wine brand]an ‘open drink’ and two Stella Artois.

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Baldassarre was alone in the vehicle, Filho said, and told him he had traveled from Worcester to his home in Concord.

Police seized Baldassarre’s license and he was released on personal recognizance after consulting with a bail officer, Filho said.

At his arraignment Tuesday, Baldassarre informed the court he would hire an attorney and asked for a court date as soon as possible.

Baldassarre was given the following date: March 3; a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

Clinton District Court Judge Nicole A. Colby Longton ordered Baldassarre not to drive until he is licensed by the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Refusing a breath test in Massachusetts results in an automatic driver’s license suspension for 180 days.

The Telegram & Gazette has reached out to School Committee Chairman Ben Casper for comment.

Baldassarre’s tenure has been controversial in Uxbridge.

A school budget crisis in May necessitated a special town meeting to get a budget passed, with Baldassarre at one point correcting a press release that contained inaccurate information.

In the weeks before the budget was approved, Baldassarre publicly clashed with City Manager Steve Sette, accusing him of throwing him under the bus.

Baldassarre was also accused by another selectman of making false statements and has had a tumultuous history on the school committee.

Six of the school committee’s seven members resigned quickly in the spring of 2023, and a Baldassarre report commissioned by former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis found that the main reasons likely had to do with Baldassarre’s “perceived reluctance to participate in its agreed evaluation process’. and his implied threat of a possible civil rights claim against some School Committee members within the same period.”

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Baldassarre received a contract extension in January, despite the opposition of many residents.

All but one of the School Committee members who voted to renew the contract have left or have not been re-elected several months after the vote.

Four new members were elected to the school committee in mid-May, including Jessica Mandile, the wife of a selectman, Stephen Mandile, with whom Baldassarre has had a falling out.

Baldassarre applied for a restraining order against Stephen Mandile in Concord District Court but was denied, following an incident outside Uxbridge High School in which he claimed Mandile scared him.

Mandile sued the schools in federal court after Baldassarre issued a trespassing order on district property. The district eventually withdrew the order and paid Mandile $60,000 in settlement.

Shortly before she was elected to the school committee, Jessica Mandile was fired as a substitute teacher at a city elementary school after colleagues alleged she was rough with a student.

Mandile told the T&G she believes her firing was retaliation.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Uxbridge Chief Inspector Michael Baldassarre charged with drink driving

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