Diabetic man behind wheel of car leads Nahant police on erratic chase through town

NAHANT-An Ipswich man caused panic when he went on a wild ride in Nahant late Monday afternoon.Lt. Thomas Hutton said approximately 14 calls came into the police station starting at 3:42 p.m. regarding an erratic driver, who was endangering other motorists and pedestrians.”People were screaming, ‘He almost killed me’ and others said he was forcing them into oncoming traffic,” Hutton said.Hutton and Officer Michael Waters responded and came up behind a line of 20 cars on Nahant Road.”Our erratic driver was the leader of the pack,” he said. “The car was headed straight towards East Point and the driver was going from sidewalk to sidewalk and curb to curb. I knew if he got to East Point he would go over the rocks into the water. We had to do something to stop him.”Hutton said he maneuvered the cruiser in front of the 2008 Buick Lacrosse Sedan, which was driven by Paul Orcione, 75, 19 Hillside Road, Ipswich.”I got in front of him,” Hutton said. “I realized this guy was totally oblivious and wasn’t going to stop but he was only going about 15 miles an hour. I thought the only way to stop the vehicle was to let him hit the back of my cruiser so he didn’t go off East Point, which I’m sure is not departmental policy. But he finally stopped without hitting me.”Hutton said when officers approached the vehicle, the driver initially ignored their commands to turn the vehicle off and exit the car.”He had no idea what was going on,” Hutton said. “The car was still in gear, the ignition on and he had his foot on the brake. We were screaming at him to turn the car off and exit the vehicle. It took him about 10 minutes to put down the window.”Hutton said the officers were sure the driver was impaired by alcohol until they approached the vehicle.”I didn’t smell any alcohol,” he said. “But he didn’t know who he was, where he was or what he was doing. The guy was almost comatose so I reached in his pocket to see if he had a medical alert bracelet. I came up with an empty container of test strips to measure blood sugar levels.Hutton, who is diabetic himself, said he knew Orcione was suffering from abnormally low blood sugar so officers immediately grabbed the medical kit and administered glucose while waiting for the ambulance to arrive on scene.”When ALS (Advanced Life Support) showed up and tested his blood sugar it was still comatose level low even though we had administered glucose,” he said. “He was transported to Salem Hospital where he was treated.”Hutton said the incident remains under investigation and no charges have been filed at this time.