Driver, Hit & Run Thwarted, Punches Motorist

WARWICK, RI — Officer Keara Enos was called to Toll Gate Road near Elmer Avenue July 9 at 11:17 p.m. for a crash where the caller had blocked a driver from fleeing the scene, arriving to see a woman, the blocked driver, punch a woman standing outside her window in the jaw.

The attacker, later identified as Melissa Avalos Quiroz, 21, of 157 Lynch St., Apt. 1, Providence, RI, used her right arm to strike the other woman, who had blocked her from leaving the scene of the crash, in the lower jaw/neck area, according to Enos’s report. She was later charged with simple assault, DUI, and failing to stop following a crash.

Enos stopped her cruiser and separated the women, ordering Quiroz to get out of her vehicle, a black Acura. She asked the woman why she had punched the other.

Quiroz replied, “Alright so basically she sayin’ that Imma be charged, and dadada and I don’ like that,” according to the report.

Enos later determined the woman punched by Quiroz was the passenger of the Toyota Prius struck in the crash.

As Enos spoke with Quiroz, she noted a strong odor of alcohol coming from her, according to the report. The woman told her she was coming from a friend’s house where she had drank three or four shots. She agreed to take sobriety tests.

During the tests, Quiroz demonstrated a lack of smooth pursuit and involuntary movement in her vision, was unable to walk heel-to-toe during a walk-and-turn test, and miscounted the seconds she stood on one foot. Enos arrested her on suspicion of DUI, and transported her to Warwick Police Headquarters, 99 Veterans Memorial Drive.

During a breath test of her blood alcohol, Quiroz registered a .130 and .124 on successive tests.

Enos charged Quiroz with DUI, first offense, simple assault, leaving the scene of a crash, and failure to maintain proper control of her vehicle.