Oct. 19--TRURO -- The Truro police chief charged with drunken driving following a crash in his cruiser Friday night allegedly groped a woman at a Provincetown bar four years ago during the annual Portuguese festival.
John Lundborn wasn't charged with a crime, but when selectmen learned of the incident they only required him to apologize to then-Provincetown Acting Police Chief Warren Tobias, Truro town records show.
The 2007 incident is one of two personnel issues involving Lundborn discovered during a Cape Cod Times review of 10 years of Truro Board of Selectmen meeting minutes, both open and closed-door sessions.
Lundborn, 44, was arrested around 8:30 p.m. Friday on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving negligently in the Cape Cod National Seashore Pilgrim Heights picnic and trail area in North Truro. Lundborn crashed a police cruiser into a tree after the car ran off the side of the paved road, the Truro police report states.
Truro selectmen hired Lundborn as police chief in April based on his superior policing skills, his 22-year tenure with the department and, for some selectmen, his steely personality.
In the second personnel issue, in 2008, the Truro selectmen placed a disciplinary letter in Lundborn's personnel file for his role as a contract employee in a publicized union letter that made accusations against Truro Planning Board member Robert Weinstein and his wife, town Moderator Monica Kraft. The couple was critical of the number of town police cruisers and about police allegedly making illegal traffic stops. The disciplinary letter was to be removed from Lundborn's file if there were no further issues for two years, town records state.
Selectmen opposed probe
Provincetown town officials were upset to learn about the Portuguese festival incident during the weekend of June 22-24, 2007, town records state. There was a second police-related incident the same weekend when Provincetown police found then-Truro Police Chief John Thomas passed out on a sidewalk, due to a diabetic condition, town records state.
Tobias and Provincetown Town Manager Sharon Lynn requested a meeting with Fred Gaechter, chairman of the board of selectmen at the time, to discuss the two incidents.
"The acting chief in Provincetown (Tobias) did not arrest either of the two officers and now he is in the middle of a situation that Provincetown and Truro citizens are asking why weren't they being held accountable for their actions," the Truro town records state.
Tobias, a Truro resident, declined to comment on Monday.
"Yes, I did attend a meeting with (then-Truro selectmen chairman) Fred Gaechter and Acting Chief Tobias regarding behavior exhibited by both Thomas and Lundborn while in Provincetown," Lynn wrote in an email to the Times Tuesday. "The matter was resolved by an apology and referred to Acting Chief Tobias for further action, if he deemed it necessary. I recall that he did not pursue it further."
At the July 10, 2007, executive session meeting of the Truro selectmen, Gaechter said he spoke to Lundborn and Thomas and that the two men told Tobias they were sorry, the record states. Gaechter asked the selectmen if they wanted to discuss the incident with the two police officers. Gaechter and now-selectmen chairman Curtis Hartman opposed an investigation and "it would not accomplish anything pursuing this incident further."
Thomas, who retired early in 2010, did not return a call for comment on Monday. Gaechter did not return a call Tuesday. No police records exist for the two incidents in Provincetown, police records clerk Andrea Poulin said Tuesday. A Provincetown police officer was present at the incident involving Thomas, and the female bar patron contacted Provincetown police in the incident involving Lundborn, Truro town records state.
"Lacking a formal complaint I thought the way Mr. Gaechter suggested was appropriate," Hartman said Tuesday.
Hartman endorsed Lundborn as the town's new police chief as did Selectman Gary Palmer, who was also at the July 10, 2007, executive session meeting in Truro. Palmer did not return a call Tuesday.
On May 17, the Truro selectmen signed a three-year contract with Lundborn giving him administrative control of the police department at an annual salary of $102,500, town records state.
Lundborn receives 30 days of leave each year, which can be vacation, sick time, holidays and personal days, and he has disability and health insurance coverage. The town can terminate the services of the chief for just cause, at any time, at a regularly posted meeting, town records state.
Crashed car under wraps
The Dodge Charger Lundborn was driving Friday night is insured with the town and registered with state officials, Truro Town Administrator Rex Peterson said Tuesday. The plate number is issued to the Truro Police Department, said Rich Nangle of the state Department of Transportation.
The crashed car is currently stored on Truro Department of Public Works grounds, and Peterson declined to allow the Times to see or photograph the vehicle because of the pending criminal investigation.
Lundborn's driving record with the state Registry of Motor Vehicles shows a failure to stop in September 1986 in Barnstable, a surchargeable accident in February 1986 in Barnstable and a speeding stop in March 1985 in Norwell, according to Nangle.
In addition to contacting the Truro police Friday night, Cape Cod National Seashore rangers also called the Provincetown police and asked that department to call the state police.
Seashore Acting Chief Ranger Craig Thatcher asked state police for assistance in reconstructing the accident scene, which they declined because the incident didn't warrant a state police response, said state Trooper Todd Nolan Tuesday. Thatcher then requested state police to assist with the crash itself, calling it a collision with possible personal injury involving an intoxicated operator.
"A state police superintendent and a trooper were sent," Nolan said. A report of the incident is not complete, he said.
Lundborn had cuts on his hands from the crash and was taken to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis where an emergency room doctor advised Lundborn to stay and be evaluated. He was released but has now been hospitalized at an undisclosed facility.
Lundborn is on paid administrative leave and will now be arraigned Nov. 4 in Plymouth District Court, after his arraignment Monday in Orleans District Court was delayed due to his hospitalization.
Copyright 2011 - Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.
