Road Rage Driver Charged For Illegal Pistol, Magazines

WARWICK, RI — Officer Gian Micheletti was called to the Cranston Public Library June 12 at 4:28 p.m. for a firearm displayed during a road rage incident in Warwick, arresting a Cranston man, 71, for illegal pistol possession and disorderly conduct.

At the library, 230 Wilbur Ave., Cranston, RI, Micheletti spoke with Cranston officers and the two drivers and respective lone passengers for each vehicle involved.

Micheletti talked to the reporting driver and passenger first. The driver said she was driving her white 2020 Toyota RAV-4 through construction toward an off-ramp onto East Avenue west near BJ’s Wholesale Club. The construction had created a traffic pattern change, she said, but she remained in her lane while taking the two-lane exit.

At that point, Angelo Dimascio, 71, of 2 Honeysuckle Drive, Cranston, RI, driving a Gray 2023 Toyota Tacoma pickup, was in the left lane beside the woman’s car. The Tacoma driver began beeping at her, apparently concerned she was entering his lane, and she held two fingers up at him, she said, signaling the exit was two lanes. She said the driver brandished a tan pistol, waving it in a violent manner, she said. according to Micheletti’s report.

Then the Tacoma driver cut in front of her, she said, and she followed it to see the plate number to report to police. The truck traveled through BJ’s lot and back onto Bald Hill Road, to Wilbur Avenue in Cranston, where Cranston Police pulled the truck over.

Driver possessed Illegal pistol, magazines in pickup

Micheletti talked to Dimascio, whom Cranston Police had detained in a cruiser. He said he had been passing his firearm to his passenger for safekeeping in the glove box. He said the RAV-4 driver had “flipped him off” while cutting into his lane. He told the officer he did not have a license to carry a firearm. He said he had recently returned from a road trip to from Florida and had planned to stay in Cranston for several days, according to the officer’s report.

Cranston Police found the firearm, a tan Canik Century Arms semi-automatic pistol, in a bag, with a magazine inserted, not in the glove box, according to the officer’s report. They also found three other magazines in the glove box, with a capacity of 18 rounds each.

Miceletti arrested Dimascio and transferred him to his own cruiser, then transported him to Warwick Police Headquarters, 99 Veterans Memorial Drive, Warwick, RI, where the officer charged him with possession of a pistol without a license to carry, and possession of large-capacity feed devices, prohibited, both felonies. The officer also charged him with disorderly conduct.

A criminal complaint was filed against him with the charges in Third Division District Court that day, June 12. He was scheduled for a Sept. 15 court screening and released on $5,000 surety bail, with permission to leave the state that day.