Laconia driver charged with hitting cyclist, fleeing scene

LACONIA — A resident of Long Bay was charged following a hit-and-run accident with a cyclist Friday afternoon, allegedly leaving a seriously injured person in the rear-view mirror.

Richard P. Tessier Jr. was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and leaving the scene of an accident.

Police Chief Matt Canfield said his department was called to the scene of a motor vehicle crash involving a cyclist on Parade Road at 4:15 p.m. on June 27. It wasn’t the first report of troubling vehicular behavior in the area.

“Two minutes prior, we received a call of a vehicle all over the road that might have been in an accident inside of South Down Shores,” Canfield said. The first report was of an orange sports car, perhaps a Chevy Corvette, which had turned south after leaving the gated neighborhood.

“Shortly after that call, we received an additional call about the crash,” Canfield said. The subsequent call reported a car had struck a cyclist riding on the side of Parade Road in the vicinity of Right Way Path, which then, according to the report, “took off at a high rate of speed heading southbound.”

The caller who reported the crash described a similar vehicle to the caller from South Down.

“We responded to the area, we located a vehicle matching the description in the area of North Main near Harvard Street,” Canfield said, and the vehicle — a 2023 Corvette — was pulled over near New Salem Street. Canfield said the car had damage consistent with a collision with a bicyclist.

The driver of the vehicle, Tessier, 61, of Aberry Lane, was subsequently charged.

Canfield said more charges could be forthcoming for Tessier. The police accident reconstruction team studied the scene and the investigation is ongoing, he added.

He hasn’t seen too many crashes there between cyclists and cars, Canfield said, but considers it to be a place prone to such encounters.

“That’s a tough stretch of road, the shoulder isn’t all that big, the vehicle speed is super high. It’s pretty fast going through there, you throw in driver distractions that are out there,” Canfield said.

“It takes but a second of distraction to go over that white line and clip a person in the breakdown lane.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify Richard P. Tessier Jr. is a resident of Long Bay.