Driver, On Post Road With Flats, Arrested for DUI

WARWICK, RI — Officers Nicholas DeLuca and Connor Bemis were patrolling Nov. 26 at 12:19 a.m. when they spotted a black Acura with two flat right tires, stopped against the curb on Post Road near Baywood Street, ultimately arresting the driver for DUI.

According to Bemis’s report, the officers saw that the Acura’s passenger’s side wheels also had significant damage. The car was also still running. When he spoke with the driver, identified as Laura Mayorga, 40, of 62 Longmount St., Apt. #FL2, Providence, he noted her eyes were bloodshot, her speech was slurred and her breath smelled of alcohol. He also saw several empty alcohol containers near the driver’s feet inside the car.

Bemis asked her to step out of the car. Mayorga said to Bemis, “This is why I don’t go out,” several times as they spoke according to the report. She said she hadn’t wanted to drive, and shouldn’t have, and that a friend had been following her to make sure she was driving all right.

Bemis asked Mayorga to take some sobriety tests, and she agreed. During the tests, Mayorga could not keep still long enough for the vision test, stepped off-line and broke heel-to-toe and used her arms for balance, and also put her foot down and used her arms for balance during the one-leg-stand test.

Bemis arrested Mayorga on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and transported her to Warwick Police Headquarters, 99 Veterans Memorial Drive, where she refused a breath test of her blood alcohol content. Bemis charged her with DUI, alcohol, blood alcohol content unknown and driving with a suspended license. She was also cited for refusing to submit to the breath test.

She was later released into the custody of a friend.