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(The Republican)

SPRINGFIELD -- A Springfield man on probation for stalking his estranged wife in a hearse is facing new charges after allegedly losing control of his car, crashing into two telephone poles and then fleeing into St. Michael's Cemetery.

Dennis J. Guyette, 33, was found an hour later, covered in blood and claiming he had been carjacked. Tests showed his blood alcohol content was 0.16 percent, or twice the legal limit, police records show.

The new charges, filed on Sept. 7, have complicated Guyette's already tangled relationship with the law and the highway.

In 2014, the funeral home employee was charged with using a hearse to run his estranged wife off the road in the Forest Park neighborhood.

After spotting her Mustang on Sumner Avenue, Guyette began following and then chasing it, leading to what was likely the city's first "hearse rage" arrest.

"The driver shouted, 'Help, help, help,'" a police officer who saw the chase wrote in his report. "She stated that the person in the hearse was trying to kill her."

For violating his wife's restraining order, Guyette was given an 18-month suspended sentence, ordered to remain drug- and alcohol-free, and required to attend a 40-week battering treatment program.

It wasn't Guyette's first run-in with the court system - or with his wife. In 2009, he forced her car off the road, then battered it with a long-handled axe and a crowbar, according to police. Charged with attempted murder, he eventually pleaded guilty to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

The new charges date back to June 19, when Guyette allegedly crashed into a pair of utility poles on Boston Road, near St. Michael's Cemetery. When police arrived, Guyette was gone, leaving behind a mangled car and a witness who described the driver to police.

An hour later, around 3:30 a.m., Guyette was found walking on Oakland Street, barefoot and bloodstained - the result of a carjacking, he told police. He was taken to Baystate Medical Center and treated for injuries to his head, hands and abdomen, according to the police report.

Given his condition, police decided against interviewing him at the hospital; a criminal complaint for operating under the influence on alcohol and leaving the scene of a property damage accident was issued in August, and the arraignment, scheduled for Aug. 26, was postponed.

On Sept. 7, Guyette returned to Springfield District Court and pleaded not guilty to the new charges; during the hearing, a probation officer said Guyette had violated his probation, and asked Judge Robert Murphy to hold him for a violation hearing.

The judge refused, but barred Guyette from driving or using drugs and alcohol, including medical marijuana, while the case is pending. A probation violation hearing is scheduled for Dec. 16, with Guyette facing the possibility of having his 18-month term extended or being sent to jail.

If the crash has jeopardized Guyette's freedom, it hasn't done much for his health, either. In August, 2015, he suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen - an incident his lawyer later used to ease his bail conditions.

Instead of attending 3-hour weekly battering treatment classes, Guyette was allowed to meet privately with a domestic abuse specialist; the gunshot wound made it too difficult for him to sit or stand during the long classes, his lawyer said.

He suffered new abdominal injuries when his car struck the two utility poles on Boston Road, splitting one in half; Guyette was alone in the car, according to a motorist who stopped and helped extract him, according to the police report.

When the motorist assured him help was on the way, Guyette responded "I wasn't driving," the report said.

He then walked to St. Michael's Cemetery, scaled the fence, and disappeared into the darkness, the witness said.