By RUSS OLIVO

WOONSOCKET — When police started chasing William Boivin’s little blue Escort around the city early Saturday morning, it had two flat tires.

Then it had four flat tires.
Then it had nothing but steel rims, throwing sparks off the pavement.
But Boivin would brake for neither siren nor overhead cruiser lights as police chased him around in circles, across the city and back, through traffic signals and stop signs. It wasn’t until the 47-year-old High Street man crashed into another car on Mason Street that he finally stopped — or at least his car did.
Boivin, on the other hand, was still raring to go. As police attempted to remove him from his mechanically disabled vehicle, Boivin struggled so fiercely with several officers that they were unable to get him in handcuffs. One officer tried to subdue him with pepper spray, to no avail, police said.
Finally, Patrolman Michael Martufi Jr. administered a jolt of electricity to Boivin with his Taser, at which point the suspect was finally brought under control.
Patrolman Michael Villiard was the first police officer to spot Boivin’s car driving on Railroad Street toward Main Street at about 2:58 a.m. Villiard said his attention turned toward the car only because it sounded like it was driving on flat tires. Then he noticed that both of the passenger side tires on the vehicle were flat.
Villiard began following the car and activated his overheads, but Boivin refused to stop. Villiard and other police officers ended up chasing
Boivin along Cherry and Cato streets, Main, High and Arnold streets, Blackstone Street and back to Main, Bernon and Front streets, then Hamlet Avenue, Cumberland, Social, Pond and Rathbun streets. From there, Boivin returned to Social, made his way toward North Main and Gaskill streets and worked his way over to the Fairmount section.
It wasn’t until he attempted to round the corner of Second Avenue and Mason Street that he sideswiped a Honda operated by a man identified as Andrew Lipiskey, police said. Lipiskey was not seriously injured. Boivin still tried to drive off, but his car limped to a stop a few yards away — then rolled backwards into a police cruiser. The cruiser sustained some minor damage, but police did not have an estimate.
One of the first things police did when they arrested Boivin was have him blow into a Breathalyzer device. The results? Blood alcohol level .000, according to police. In other words, Boivin had zero detectable alcohol in his system. But police said Boivin claimed he was high on crack cocaine and blamed the drug for fueling his bizarre road trip.
Police sent Boivin to Landmark Medical Center to collect a blood test in attempts to corroborate his claim. But the results of a chemical analysis of the sample were still incomplete Monday, according to police reports.
Nevertheless, police charged Boivin with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs. He was also charged with eluding police, resisting arrest, reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident involving an attended motor vehicle, speeding and two counts of disobedience to stop signs.
He was sent to the ACI in lieu of surety bail following his arraignment in District Court in Providence on Monday. He is due to return to court for a pretrial hearing on Nov. 10.