New HampshireDepartment of JusticeOffice of the Attorney General

News Release

For Immediate Release
January 15, 2020

Contact:
Kate Spiner, Director of Communications
(603) 573-6103 kate.spiner@doj.nh.gov

Geoffrey W. R. Ward, Senior Assistant Attorney General
Chief, Criminal Justice Bureau
(603) 271-3671 geoffrey.ward@doj.nh.gov

Arrest of Sergeant Michael Verrocchi of the Salem Police Department on Charges of Reckless Conduct and Disobeying an Officer

Concord, NH – Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald announces that Michael D. Verrocchi, age 41, of Salem, New Hampshire was arrested on Wednesday, January 15, 2020, and charged with one class B felony count of reckless conduct with a deadly weapon and one class A misdemeanor count of disobeying an officer. Mr. Verrocchi is currently employed as a Sergeant with the Town of Salem Police Department.

The reckless conduct charge alleges that on November 10, 2012, in Salem, New Hampshire, Michael Verrocchi did recklessly engage in conduct which placed or may have placed others in danger of seriously bodily injury, in that Mr. Verrocchi, while operating a Jeep Cherokee on Route 28 in Salem, operated the motor vehicle in excess of the posted speed limit, failed to stop when signaled to stop by Officer Sean York of the Salem Police Department by means of audible and visual emergency warning signals, and instead fled from Officer York and engaged in a high-speed motor vehicle pursuit over a distance of approximately two miles during which Mr. Verrocchi ran a red light and avoided spike strips placed in the roadway by Officer Kevin Swanson of the Salem Police Department and continuously failed to stop for Officer York. The vehicle being operated by Mr. Verrocchi constitutes a deadly weapon as defined in RSA 625:11.

The disobeying an officer charge alleges that on November 10, 2012, in Salem, New Hampshire, Michael Verrocchi did purposely, while driving or in charge of a motor vehicle, neglect to stop when signaled to stop by Officer Sean York of the Salem Police Department by means of authorized audible and visual emergency warning signals.

Mr. Verrocchi is scheduled to be arraigned in the Rockingham County Superior Court on January 30, 2020, at 1:00 p.m.

The charges and allegations contained in the complaints are merely accusations, and Mr. Verrocchi is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty.

New Hampshire Department of Justice
1 Granite Place South | Concord, NH | 03301
Telephone: 603-271-3658