Rt. 1 wrong-way driver slams Saugus cruiser

SAUGUS – Detective Leonard Campanello was caught off guard Saturday morning when a car traveling the wrong way on Route 1 north crashed into his cruiser.Daniel Boadu, 47, 950 Canterbury St., Roslindale was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, reckless operation of a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident with property damage.Lt. Michael Annese said Campanello was responding to a call for a large-scale fight at The Oasis, 24 Bennett Highway (Route 1 north). According to Annese, Campanello was behind a large truck when it swerved to avoid Boadu, who was allegedly headed straight at the truck, then Campanello.Boadu caught the front bumper of the cruiser and sideswiped the left side before abruptly turning off Route 1 onto Lark Avenue, which Annese figures he didn’t realize was a dead-end.Annese said once Boadu was cornered on Lark Avenue, Campanello was able to place him under arrest but not before Boadu denied that it was he driving the wrong way.”When asked where he was coming from, he said ‘Oasis,'” Annese said. “He wasn’t drunk . . . but he was very uncooperative.”Back at The Oasis, Annese said Saugus, Lynnfield and State Police all arrived expecting a large fight in the parking lot, but found a traffic jam instead.Annese said every staff member at the club was in the parking lot trying to direct traffic and all denied reports of a fight.Annese said he doesn’t know, but suspects Boadu might have simply been tired of sitting in traffic and made a break for Route 1. He said he would also be passing the incident report onto the Board of Selectmen for its meeting Wednesday, though he’s not sure it fits their bill.The board is sitting down with Police Chief James MacKay Wednesday to discuss the recent spate of police incidents at Oasis as well as Tabu Ultra Lounge and Nightclub, Roller World and the Square One Mall.Board members had asked for a list of incidents that covered that last 90 days. A particularly wild weekend that had officers running from one establishment to another for fights at Roller World, Oasis and Tabu, and a gang incident that involved a gun at the mall, initiated the meeting.Selectmen Stephen Horlick originally wanted to include two additional incidents from last fall that involved staffers serving underage patrons at Oasis. Selectman Stephen Castinetti had shot down the request, arguing that the incidents had been already been dealt with.During last week’s meeting, however, Horlick asked again to include the two incidents in the meeting.Castinetti said if they were going to reach back to November on one establishment, they needed to do it for all four.The board will meet in Town Hall at 6 p.m. but will first hold an executive session regarding the inflow and infiltration program. It will meet with MacKay immediately following.