YARMOUTH – Yarmouth Police report that on Friday at approximately 5:00 p.m., they received a message from the Marshfield Police Department to be on the lookout for a gray Toyota Camry with Massachusetts registration 648JS1 due to reports that the operator, Christine Cogill, was possibly intoxicated and operating the motor vehicle with her six-year-old daughter inside. Marshfield Police conducted a ping on Christine’s cell phone which placed her within a mile radius of Winslow Gray Road in West Yarmouth.
An extensive search of the area was conducted but however the vehicle was not located.
At approximately 7:20 p.m.,, the Yarmouth Police Department received an updated ping location from Marshfield Police placing Christine’s cell phone within a mile radius of the Thunderbird Motel on Route 28 in West Yarmouth. Yarmouth Police Patrol Officers Marc Thibault and Jason Batchelder immediately responded to the area and began searching hotels for Christine’s vehicle.
While searching the area, YPD Dispatch Center received a report of a motor vehicle crash involving the Toyota on Route 28 in the area of Higgins Crowell Road in West Yarmouth. The caller reported the vehicle was leaving the scene of the crash and continuing westbound on Route 28.
Within a few minutes, Yarmouth Police Patrol Officers Thibeault and Batchelder located the suspect vehicle crashed into a utility pole on Route 28, just west of Traders Lane. The vehicle sustained heavy damage and the front passenger side tire was missing. Officers Thibeault and Batchelder approached the scene and located the lone occupant of the vehicle (later positively identified as Christine Cogill) unconscious but breathing and trapped behind the wheel. Officers further observed the driver’s airbag was deployed and Christine’s legs were trapped under the dash and an empty child seat in the back. As Patrol Officers Thibeault, Batchelder and Patrol Sergeant Frank Hennessey tried to free Christine from the vehicle, the vehicle caught on fire. The fire was rapidly spreading and soon the engine compartment was engulfed. The driver’s side door would not open. Patrol Sergeant Hennessey broke out the vehicle windows to aid in extricating Christine’s legs from under the dash. From the front passenger side, Officer Thibeault was able to grip Christine under her arms and force her free, over the passenger seat, and out of the car. Officer Thibeault dragged Christine away to a safe area and returned to look for the child. Patrol Officer Batchelder was able to eventually extinguish the fire with an extinguisher.
Officer Thibeault was then approached by Yarmouth resident Denise Galvin, who is a Nurse at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. Nurse Galvin reported that she had the child. According to Nurse Galvin, she witnessed the crash and she stopped her vehicle and approached to render aid. Nurse Galvin said she initially only saw Christine in the driver’s seat and she was unresponsive. As Nurse Galvin was trying to aid Christine, the rear driver’s side door opened and she observed the child and immediately took her to safety.
Members of the Yarmouth Fire Department immediately transported Christine to Cape Cod Hospital. The child appeared uninjured and but was transported to Cape Cod Hospital for precautionary reasons.
The child was determined to be uninjured and eventually released to her family members.
Cogill was treated for her non-life threatening injuries. She will be summonsed into court on charges of operating under the influence of liquor (2nd offense), child endangerment while OUI, operating negligently to endanger and marked lanes violation. Yarmouth Police also filed an Immediate Threat report with the Registry of Motor Vehicles to suspend Cogill’s license and a 51A Report to the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.
The Yarmouth Police Department commends and extends our sincerest thanks to all of the Police Officers and Firefighters involved our team of Dispatchers, the Marshfield Police Department, the citizen and Good Samaritans who provided information and assistance, and Nurse Denise Galvin and everyone at Cape Cod Hospital.
Media release and photo furnished by Yarmouth Police; scene photo by CWN associate John P. Carroll
Speak Your Mind