Portsmouth Police asked State Police to cover a crash that occurred at 1:58 a.m. Saturday, but little else is known about what happened except that the person involved works for the city of Portsmouth.
“The Portsmouth Police Department requested New Hampshire State Police to cover a single vehicle crash with wires down on Peverly Hill Road in Portsmouth at approximately 1:58AM as a city employee was involved,” according to Amber Lagace, State Police public information officer.
No release was put out on this incident, Lagace said in an email, adding she would pass on more information if she received it.
When Police Chief Mark Newport was asked via email if the crash involved someone in his department who had been at a police sanctioned fundraiser at the Rusty Hammer Pub Friday night before the crash, he said it wasn’t department sanctioned. It was a fundraiser for the Battle of the Badges.
“Unfortunately, I will not be available to speak with you until Monday. I would be interested to hear more about your statement referring to your understanding of this event as being department sanctioned as this was a fundraiser to raise money for the ‘CHAD’ hockey game that two department members are participating in, not a fundraiser for our department,” Newport said in the email. He didn’t respond to further questions.
Portsmouth Police Commissioners Stefany Shaheen, Buzz Scherr and Kate Coyle didn’t respond Saturday night to questions posed by InDepthNH.org in an email and phone messages were left for Shaheen and Scherr.