Mass. State Police Captain Suspended Over Chase

A state trooper charged with failing to stop for police trying to pull him over last weekend was suspended without pay yesterday.

A state police spokesman said Capt. Thomas McCarthy, 47, the evening shift commander for Troop C based in Holden, was arrested Saturdaynight in Saugus.

Authorities said Capt. McCarthy left a home in Saugus in an unmarked cruiser and was pulled over several minutes later for a marked lanes violation. Capt. McCarthy then allegedly drove away. He stopped again later and was arrested.

Yesterday at a duty status hearing, attended by Capt. McCarthy's lawyer but not by the trooper himself, a duty panel suspended the trooper without pay indefinitely, according to state police spokesman David Procopio. The hearing took place at state police headquarters in Framingham.

State police gave the following account: Saugus police went to a home where an alarm was sounding Saturday night.

A woman who lives there was in the garage, and Capt. McCarthy, whowas off duty, was sitting in his unmarked cruiser, a black Ford Crown Victoria. The trooper drove away.

A few minutes later, a Saugus police officer saw the driver of theCrown Victoria commit a marked lanes violation on Central Street near Main Street, and stopped the car. The Saugus officer asked the driver to shut off the ignition and get out of the car, but instead the driver drove away. Saugus police followed the car, and ultimately the driver stopped outside the Sears Automotive Center at the Square One Mall. Capt. McCarthy was arrested on charges of failing to stop for police and failing to stay right of center. He was booked at the Saugus police station, where a commander "observed in him signs of intoxication."

Capt. McCarthy didn't attend the arraignment scheduled for yesterday in Lynn District Court, and it was rescheduled for Dec. 22. His attorney declined to comment on the trooper's case or whereabouts, but said he'll appear for the new date.