For those wondering what happened to a trio of ornamental street lights along Bridgeport’s Main Street corridor, it has nothing to do with basic maintenance or repair. Instead, according to Sgt. C.S. Carpenter, the poles were taken down by an erratic drive a week ago today.

 

Carpenter said the first notice of the situation involving the decorative lights came in at 10:26 p.m. on Feb. 11. He said the area in question was on West Main Street between the Benedum Civic Center and the Bridgeport Fire Department.

 

“When we got there on the fire department side of the sidewalk we found three of the black decorative street lights had not only been hit, but hit hard enough that they were destroyed,” said Carpenter. “While we were looking at this, another call had come in that a possible suspect vehicle was headed east bound on (U.S.) Route 50.”

 

Carpenter said that as Bridgeport Police began heading that way, there was another call from the public saying the vehicle had turned onto State Route 76. That led to a change in tactics.

 

“The vehicle was out of our jurisdiction,” said Carpenter. “At that point, we returned to the scene to take picture and get a handle on the extent of the damage.”

 

As this was taking place, Carpenter said general information was continually being reported on the suspect vehicle from citizens calling into 911. He said they were actually tracking the vehicle, which had made its way into Taylor County and eventually Barbour County.

 

“Once in Barbour County, a State Trooper made a traffic stop, identified the individual and was able to determine this was the vehicle that struck the poles,” said Carpenter.

 

After the stop, police took into custody Richard Rager. Carpenter said Rager had two addresses on him – one in Taylor County and one in Barbour County.

 

Two days later, Bridgeport Police got a warrant for Rager’s arrest. Carpenter said on Feb. 13 Rager was charged in Bridgeport for leaving the scene with property damage. There is no word on the dollar amount of damage or when the lights will be replaced.

 

Editor's Note: Two cones, one in the foreground and one closer to the Main Street Fire Department, in the photo mark off where street lights were ran over last week and destroyed. A third light destroyed was in front of the Sprint Print building across from the Benedum Civic Center.