ANDOVER — An intoxicated teenager driving a stolen car and wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "FLiPPiN SWEET," caused another car to flip over on the side of Interstate 495 yesterday afternoon, police said.
Cory Scott, 19, of 82 Beach Road, Salisbury, tried to elude police, but was caught by police with dogs almost an hour later in a nearby yard at 161 Haggetts Pond Road.
Police said Scott was driving a 1997 Buick LeSabre reported stolen in Lawrence earlier in the day when he rear-ended a Volkswagen GTI in a southbound lane.
The impact sent both cars off the road, and caused the Volkswagen to roll over into a gully off the breakdown lane about 200 yards past the High Plain Road overpass.
The driver of the Volkswagen, Walter Olivera, 38, of East Boston spoke limited English but told a reporter he was not hurt.
Olivera was wearing his seat belt, according to state police Capt. Barry O'Brien.
"Basically, aggressive driving," caused the crash, Trooper Daniel O'Brien of the Andover barracks said.
Trooper Hank Bambrick, also of the Andover barracks, said it doesn't take much, just a slight turn of the wheel when a car has been struck, to send it off the road.
Police responded to the crash at 1:55 p.m. Witnesses told police they saw Scott run into the woods and gave his description to police, Capt. O'Brien said.
The Buick had been reported stolen out of Lawrence. Capt. O'Brien said the car was stolen sometime after 11 a.m. yesterday.
State and local police searched the woods around the highway, Haggetts Pond Road and High Plain Road and arrested Scott behind 161 Haggetts Pond Road about 2:50 p.m. They handcuffed him and talked to him while he sat on the lawn in front of the house.
Scott had a lip piercing and wore a green T-shirt that said "FLiPPiN SWEET" across his chest.
"Flippin sweet" is a saying that originates from the low budget, 2004 movie comedy "Napoleon Dynamite" about an alienated teenager who decides to help his friend run for high school class president.
Sherri Dovich was working in her front yard at 162 Haggetts Pond Road with her daughter Ellie, 6, son, Alex, 4, and golden retriever, Bentley, during the incident. She didn't see police capture Scott, but she heard them shouting orders at him, she said.
Dovich heard police yell, "We see you, we have dogs," and "Don't move."
The mother then saw police walk out from behind a barn at 161 Haggetts Pond Road — across the street from her house — with the suspect.
Dovich said she was happy police found him before he got near her children.
"You don't know what he was doing, what he was being chased for," she said.
"Not much happens around here," she said.
Kathy Potts lives at 161 Haggetts Pond Road and feared the man might have a gun, or that there could be more than one person on the run.
"You think the worst these days," she said. "Glad it's not the worst."
Police charged Scott with negligent operation, operating under the influence of alcohol, using a motor vehicle without authority, operating without a license, marked lanes violation and failure to use care in slowing or stopping, O'Brien said. Scott is expected to be arraigned today in Lawrence District Court.
