Tips Lead to Sixth Drunk Driving Arrest of Hingham Man

A caller's tip to police on Sunday afternoon led to the arrest of a Hingham man of his sixth operating under the influence arrest. 

The man’s driver’s license had already been revoked for life due to prior drunk driving convictions and he is on probation for drunk driving, said police.

Kim David Burke, 61, 14 Pilgrim Road, Hingham, was arrested and charged with operating under the influence of alcohol and driving after license revoked for OUI.  

According to a post by Hingham police, a call came in around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 13, from a person who said a man was driving a distinctive car "whose license the caller believed was suspended." The tip included the name and license plate, said police. 

Confirming the name and revocation of the license, officers found that his 1977 Ford Ranchero was not in the driveway, and looked for the car. 

Sgt. David Horte spotted the car on Ward Street, driving toward him. "As it passed him he was able to see the driver and recognized him from his driver’s license photo and a previous booking photo on his cruisers laptop," said police. 

When the officer turned around to pull the car over, it was no longer on the road, and he found it unoccupied in the rear lot of a church on Ward Street. 

A witness at the church told officers they heard a screeching noise as the car pulled into the lot, and described the driver, said police. "The witness watched as he stepped out with a small dog and walked into a nearby field," reported police. "As he walked away the witness saw him throw an object into the woods."

Officers found Burke and his dog, as well as an empty Budweiser can, in the woods. Burke was in an athletic field connected through the woods of the church's lot. 

Burke's "speech was slurred, his eyes were glassy and bloodshot, he was unsteady on his feet and he had the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath," said police. He refused the sobriety test. 

Burke was placed under arrest. 

As Hingham police explained in its release, "Under Melanie’s Law, the car is not subject to civil forfeiture because it is not registered to him. However, at the time of his last arrest for drunk driving, which occurred in Hingham in 2011, he was arrested leaving the scene of a crash driving the same Ford Ranchero with the same license plate."

Burke was ordered held without bail by the Clerk Magistrate. He was held overnight at the Plymouth County House of Correction in Plymouth and arraigned on Monday, April 14.