In a grave turn of events on Memorial Day, a Vermont man was arrested after his vehicle collided with a flagpole at the Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery. According to NBC Boston, 35-year-old John Kunkle of Barre is now facing DUI charges in the wake of the incident.
The Vermont State Police were called to the scene shortly before dusk on Monday, to find that their arrival preempted a tragic intersection of reverence and recklessness. The cemetery’s flagpole, meant to stand as a sentinel of honor, was discovered significantly damaged. It’s reported by Newport Dispatch, that the Randolph firefighters intervened to safely dismantle the pole, which was left leaning dangerously in the aftermath.
State police stated that upon their arrival, they observed signs of impairment in Kunkle, leading to his arrest on DUI suspicion. Subsequent to the accident, the accused was hospitalized at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph and later moved to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH. His status at the latter facility is stable.
Kunkle is scheduled to make his court appearance on July 31, at 8:30 a.m., at the Vermont Superior Court in Chelsea to answer for the charges brought against him.
