Alviti Calling RIPTA Board Meeting After Avedisian Hit & Run Charge

PROVIDENCE, RI — RIDOT Director Peter Alviti, Board Chairman of the RI Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) is scheduling a special meeting of the body as calls mount for the board to review the circumstances of a RIPTA CEO Scott Avedisian hit & run charge.

The effort follows an initial call from RIPTA board member Patrick Crowley to discuss the matter, echoed by Gov. Dan McKee, as initially reported by WPRI 12. This morning, RIDOT confirmed Alviti is organizing a special meeting.

“Governor McKee urges the RIPTA board to convene a special meeting to review the facts of the Avedisian matter and follow the appropriate human resources protocols,” said Laura Hart, spokesperson for Governor Dan McKee.

 Avedisian, former Warwick Mayor for 18 years, was charged for a hit & run by Warwick Police for a March 27 crash. According to a police report, Avedisian rear-ended a car with his SUV in the Post Road McDonald’s drive-thru March 27, which then struck a car in front of it. All three vehicles were damaged, but no injuries were reported.

Avedisian reportedly instructed the other drivers to pull into the restaurant’s lot to exchange information but instead drove away and later refused to answer when police attempted to reach him at his home.

Avedisian, the city’s longest-serving Mayor, was first elected to the Warwick City Council in 1990 at 25. Avedisian holds the distinction of being the youngest person elected to both the city council and the mayor’s office, at 35. With his 18-year tenure in the mayor’s office, Avedisian was among Rhode Island’s longest-serving mayors at the time he was appointed as CEO of RIPTA in 2018.