Massachusetts man reached 114 mph while driving drunk in New Hampshire; assaulted 2 officers in jail
A Massachusetts man is facing multiple charges after he was caught driving at high speeds while under the influence of alcohol in New Hampshire and later assaulted correctional officers at a county jail, according to state police.
Troop A of the New Hampshire State Police said it received a call shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday about a white SUV that was driving erratically on Interstate 95 in the city of Portsmouth.
A trooper with the NHSP Special Enforcement Unit who was monitoring traffic from a state police aircraft on I-95 south in the town of Greenland noticed a white 2017 Ford Explorer traveling at an extremely high rate of speed. He clocked that vehicle at 114 mph in the posted 65-mph speed zone.
That trooper radioed troopers on the ground about the speeding SUV, and a ground trooper recorded the vehicle still traveling in excess of 100 mph.
The SUV was then stopped by a state police sergeant and the driver was identified as 51-year-old Craig Cooper, of Amesbury. Officials said that the sergeant determined Cooper was intoxicated and arrested him.
Cooper was initially brought to the Hampton Police Department, where he was originally processed, but he was then brought to the Rockingham County Jail to be held in protective custody due to his level of intoxication.
Once at the county jail, state police said Cooper assaulted two correctional officers.
Cooper has been charged with aggravated driving while under the influence, driving with an open container of alcohol, reckless operation of a motor vehicle and simple assault on a correctional officer.
He is due to be arraigned at 8 a.m. Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in the 10th Circuit Court Portsmouth District.