PROVINCETOWN — Police made seven arrests here between Thursday and Monday of July 4th weekend, and the rescue squad was kept busy as well. The incidents included a drunk driving crash in which three pedicab passengers had to be transported to the hospital and five GHB overdose calls.
Provincetown police also seized large quantities of several types of drugs, which Chief Jim Golden said in a press statement “may be related to the seasonal increase in drug-related medical emergencies.”
Close to 1 a.m. on Saturday, July 3, Chelsea Bianco, 30, of Somerset, drove into the back of a pedicab in front of 749 Commercial St. She did not brake before the impact, according to the police report. One passenger, Imran Chitalwalla, was ejected from the cab, and its operator, Mihail Todorov, told police he saw Bianco run over Chitalwalla’s leg after the initial impact with the cab and then begin to drive off.
Bianco stopped her car 100 feet away when Todorov chased after her, yelling, according to his statement to police. Chitalwalla suffered a broken pelvis, while the other two passengers in the pedicab, Zohirul Sohag and Serge Rosiles, sustained concussions. All three were first-time visitors to Provincetown.
First responders requested a Medflight helicopter but were unable to secure one due to overcast weather. Chitalwalla was taken to Cape Cod Hospital via ambulance, then transferred to Boston Medical Center.
Meanwhile, Bianco failed multiple field sobriety tests, which were administered by Officers McCauley and Kacergis. At 2:35 a.m., Bianco’s chemical breath test showed a blood alcohol content of .094; the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle is .08. She faces one count of OUI causing serious bodily injury and one count of negligent operation of a motor vehicle. Bianco posted her own $1,000 bail. Her pretrial hearing is scheduled for Aug. 17.
Provincetown emergency services responded to five medical calls for suspected overdoses of the drug GHB over the holiday weekend. GHB is a so-called club drug that can induce euphoria, but it is also a depressant that slows the heart rate and can cause confusion, memory loss, and other complications, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse website. The risk of GHB overdose is greatly increased when mixed with alcohol.
Chief Golden wrote in an email that three of the five medical calls came from A-House, while the remaining two came from Spiritus Pizza and the Provincetown Inn.
On the call to the Provincetown Inn on the evening of July 4, police made one arrest after discovering a variety of illicit drugs in the room where they had responded to a report of a man having a panic attack. According to the police report filed by Officers Murray and Dow, the man’s friends told police that he had taken ecstasy that morning, but that he had not taken any other drugs and that no other drugs were in the room.
But during the interaction, the man began to have a seizure. Mixed with ecstasy, GHB can cause both panic attacks and seizures. When police searched the room, they discovered GHB and several other drugs, including methamphetamine and more than 20 grams of cocaine.
The alleged owner of the drugs, Donn Bullens Jr., 32, of South Boston, faces seven drug counts, including possession of GHB with intent to distribute. It is unclear if the drugs seized from Bullens are connected to the other emergency calls police received over the weekend. Bullens was released on $1,000 bail and has a pretrial hearing on Aug. 19.
