CLINTON — On Friday, April 24, 2026, at approximately 8:42 p.m., Officer Brian O’Malley of the Clinton Police Department responded to the Wendy’s at 860 Main Street following a report of a disoriented driver.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Brian O’Malley and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
“On the way, the dispatcher stated he could hear the engine revving,” Officer O’Malley said. “I pulled into the parking lot of Wendys from Main Street.”
Officers Shane Gilman, David Johnson, and Matthew Champagne arrived shortly thereafter.
Officer O’Malley said he briefly spoke with the caller and the manager, who pointed out a red Toyota Camry with Massachusetts plates in the parking lot.
The manager said he found the operator — later identified as Matthew T. Kehoe — passed out behind the wheel. Kehoe then woke up, attempted to leave, and struck a Wendy’s sign.
Officer O’Malley said he walked up to the vehicle and observed Kehoe with his head down and both arms resting on the window. Kehoe then stated, “I gotta pee so bad.”
“I observed the vehicle to be running,” Officer O’Malley said. Officer O’Malley then asked Kehoe to turn off the car and took the keys from him.
“Standing at the window, I could smell the odor of alcoholic beverage emanating from Kehoe’s breath,” Officer O’Malley said. Officer O’Malley said he observed Kehoe’s movements to be slow and deliberate, his eyes to be glassy and bloodshot, and his speech to be slurred.
“I asked him if he knew where he was; he stated Sterling. I went on to ask him how many beers he had and he denied having any,” Officer O’Malley said. “I observed his speech was slurred. I asked him if he had any medical conditions that would make him forget where he is and have slurred speech. He stated no. I asked if he has diabetes and then smelled his breath and smelled alcoholic beverage.”
Officer O’Malley then asked Kehoe to get out of the car. Kehoe then exited the vehicle slowly and used the door for balance.
“I then had him stand and started asking him questions such as how far did you go in school,” Officer O’Malley said. “He took some time and then mumbled something unintelligible [that sounded like], ‘They made fun of me.’ I asked him if he was on any medications and he stated Metformin (which is for blood sugar), out of an abundance of caution, I requested EMS to take his vitals/blood sugar. As we were waiting for EMS, I checked his car and observed some sort of bottle of medication and also a bottle of wine that was opened with approximately a few ounces of wine left in it.”
Officer O’Malley said he advised Kehoe that he could not make him check his blood sugar, but thought it was a good idea.
“I observed a wet stain from the back of Kehoe’s pants as he walked away that I assumed to be urine due to the fact that he was sitting in his car and first stated, ‘I gotta pee so bad,’” Officer O’Malley said. “EMS came, took his blood sugar, and stated it was okay.”
Officer O’Malley said he then attempted to administer field sobriety tests to Kehoe.
“Kehoe had trouble getting in the starting position for the one leg stand and had to be told several times to put his feet together,” Officer O’Malley said. “I attempted to explain the test. Kehoe interrupted me and stated, ‘That too hard, sir.’ I observed his speech to be slurred. Kehoe refused all other tests I tried to administer.”
Officer O’Malley then placed Kehoe under arrest for operating under the influence of liquor.
Kehoe was then transported to the Clinton Police Department for booking.
“He was transported to the Clinton Police Department and afforded all rights applicable to include the breath test. Kehoe’s test result was a .26 % BAC [Blood Alcohol Content],” Officer O’Malley said. Later adding, “Kehoe was issued his notice of suspension.”
Before Kehoe’s vehicle was towed from the scene, Officer O’Malley said Officer Gilman conducted an inventory of the vehicle pursuant to department policy and located another bottle of wine, which was unopened. Both bottles of wine were then logged and placed into evidence.
Officer O’Malley noted that although Kehoe was reported to have struck a Wendy’s sign, he did not observe any damage and planned to follow up with Wendy’s employees.
Matthew Kehoe was charged with the following:
- OUI – Liquor or .08%
- Town of Clinton open container bylaw (Corbett Canyon wine bottle)
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story took place in April, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.
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