Crews responded to a violent highway crash in Rhode Island with injuries.
According to Chief of Police Mark. Carrier, on Thursday, at just after 7:00 a.m.., a Hopkinton Police Officer on routine patrol observed a vehicle traveling northbound on Route 216, High Street, in Ashaway. The vehicle was observed to be operating at a very high rate of speed, overtaking another vehicle in a no-passing zone. The Officer, who was traveling in the opposite direction on High Street pulled over onto the shoulder of the southbound travel lane and activated his emergency lights in an attempt to slow down the vehicle. The vehicle failed to slow, and the Officer shut his lights off, before turning around and proceeding with traffic in the same direction of the vehicle.
The vehicle was located further down High Street, at final rest against a large tree in the area of Trinity Lutheran Church. There was extensive damage to the vehicle, and the Officer observed the lone occupant, a twenty-year-old Hopkinton resident, to be conscious and alert, but with apparent serious injuries. The operator was extricated by the Ashaway Fire Department and received treatment from Ashaway Ambulance before being transferred to a Life Star helicopter for transport to Rhode Island Hospital.
The investigation is ongoing, and any witnesses to the accident or operation of the vehicle prior to the accident are asked to please contact Hopkinton Police Detectives at (401)377-7750.
The Hopkinton Police Department extended their gratitude to Ashaway Ambulance, Ashaway Fire Department, and Hope Valley Fire Department for their assistance.
