DANVERS — A Melrose man on a cocaine binge crashed into a house, then led police on a high-speed chase through Danvers and Topsfield, stopping only after he blew out a tire, a prosecutor said yesterday.
And, police said, when they got Leo Fazio Jr., 48, out of the cab of his pickup, he had cocaine all over his face — and cocaine all over the inside of the truck.
"This is an outrageous incident," Salem District Court Judge Richard Mori said yesterday, shortly before ordering that Fazio remain held without bail as a danger to the public until his trial.
The incident is all the more outrageous, prosecutors say, when one learns that this is Fazio's third arrest in the past year for driving after his license was suspended for a prior driving-under-the-influence conviction. He's now facing a fourth charge of driving under the influence.
In addition, he's charged with possession of cocaine, driving to endanger, speeding, failing to stop for police, leaving the scene of an accident and several other counts.
The episode unfolded on the afternoon of Sept. 29 on Route 62 in Danvers, prosecutor Michelle DeCourcey told the judge during yesterday's hearing.
It was shortly before 5 p.m. when Trooper Robert Noonan spotted a Dodge Ram pickup barrel through a stop sign at the end of Beaver Park Road, cutting off another car that was making a turn.
As the truck traveled onto Maple Street (Route 62) it went off the road and into the front of a house at 185 Maple St., causing extensive damage to the stairs and railing.
Noonan pulled up and yelled for the driver to stop.
But Fazio started rolling forward, back onto the busy roadway, and took off, reaching speeds of 70 miles an hour as he forced other cars off the road and traveled on the wrong side for a time, DeCourcey told the judge.
As he drove, police said he was seen throwing handfuls of white powder out of the truck's window.
Fazio continued west, blowing through red lights at the junction of 62 and Routes 1 and 95, and then headed north on Route 1, through the Ferncroft Rotary and into Topsfield.
Fazio continued up the road, getting past the Topsfield Fairgrounds and then Route 97, before blowing out a tire and coming to a stop.
In addition to the white powder and chunks on his face, Fazio was grinding his teeth and shaking, signs of heavy cocaine use, police said.
The inside of the truck was coated with white powder, and police found a plastic bag torn open, with white powder residue. The size of the bag, 5 inches, is typically used to package between 25 to 50 grams of cocaine (roughly one to two ounces), the prosecutor said.
Fazio's lengthy criminal history, which includes a five- to 15-year prison term for armed robbery, is replete with drug and driving offenses, said DeCourcey, including convictions for driving under the influence of either alcohol or drugs in 1990, 1999 and 2005.
Fazio's attorney, Gail Nastasia, argued for her client's release, saying that he needs to finish rebuilding his home, which was destroyed in a fire last year. She acknowledged that Fazio is facing a lengthy jail term and suggested that if he cannot finish the house now it won't get done for a long time.
She noted that it was Mori who sentenced Fazio in his 2005 case, placing him on an electronic monitoring bracelet. "He did very well at that time," Nastasia told the judge.
Mori was not persuaded. "This guy just keeps driving, no matter what conditions are placed on him," the judge said.
A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Nov. 6.
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