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Hingham man accused of drunken driving for the sixth time

Kim David Burke, 61.

A Hingham man whose right to drive was permanently revoked after multiple drunken driving convictions is being held without bail after police allegedly spotted him driving drunk through Hingham Sunday in an unusual vehicle, authorities said.

Kim David Burke, 61, appeared in Hingham District Court Monday where Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz’s office asked that he be held under the state’s dangerousness law, a request approved by the judge.

Burke will be held until a dangerousness hearing slated for 2 p.m. Wednesday, according to Cruz’s office.

Burke is facing charges that include operating under the influence of alcohol for the sixth time, driving with a revoked license, and driving to endanger, police said.

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Burke’s license was revoked for life in 2012 for drunken driving, officials said. He had been arrested on that charge and convicted five times in various communities in Massachusetts between 1987 and 2011, according to records at the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Police said a caller on Sunday reported seeing Burke, who the caller believed had multiple drunken driving convictions, driving a distinctive green car. Sergeant David Horte spotted the car, a 1977 Ford Ranchero, and recognized Burke behind the wheel, police said.

Horte turned his cruiser around to stop the car, but Burke apparently pulled off the road in an attempt to evade him, police said.

The unoccupied car was discovered in the parking lot of a church on Ward Street. A witness reported seeing Burke exit the vehicle with a small dog and walk into a nearby field, throwing an object into the woods, police said.

Officers entered the wooded area and discovered an empty beer can, seizing it as evidence. They located Burke carrying a dog on the athletic field connected to the church’s parking lot soon thereafter, police said.

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,” the statement said. Burke refused to take a chemical breath test, police said.

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Burke was arrested after refusing to undergo a field sobriety test. The car he was driving, which was not registered to him, was towed. Police said Burke was driving the same Ranchero with the same license plate when they arrested him in 2011 for drunken driving following a crash. The Ranchero is a two-seat coupe with a pickup truck-like flatbed.

Burke was previously convicted of drunken driving in Hingham, Weymouth, Whitman, Cambridge, and Hull, police said. He also faced the charge in the state of Georgia in 1988, police said.

According to the Registry, Burke’s right to drive has been revoked for life three times and if convicted of the new offense, he will have his right to drive revoked a fourth time.


Catalina Gaitan can be reached at catalina.gaitan@
globe.com
. Follow her on Twitter at @catalina_gaitan.