Driver Sans Lights Stopped, Arrested for DUI

WARWICK, RI — Officer Nathan Skawinski was patrolling near the Oakland Beach sea wall March 17 at about 2:15 a.m. when he stopped a driver running without lights, arresting him for DUI.

Skawinski noticed the driver in the gray 2017 Maxima sedan pull out of the rear of Iggy’s boardwalk at 859 Oakland Beach Ave., then proceed past the stop sign at the intersection of Stender Boulevard and Suburban Parkway, its rear tires resting on the stop line, according to Skawinski’s report.

Skawinski stopped the Maxima, and identified the driver as Karen Armstrong, 59, of 2017 Cranston St., Cranston, RI 0920. She had one passenger, another woman, according to the report.

Skawinski noted an opened cooler with beer bottles in it and a sealed box of Samuel Adams beer in the rear seat. “I know that looks bad,” Armstrong said, indicating the cooler. But she denied drinking any of the alcohol in the car.

As she spoke, Skawinski noted an odor of alcohol on her breath, slurred speech and bloodshot eyes. He asked her to perform sobriety tests, which she agreed to.

During the tests, Armstrong demonstrated a lack of smooth pursuit and involuntary movement in her vision, misssed heel-to-toe steps and stepped off line during a walk and turn test and put her foot down twice during a one leg stand test.  She also registered a .1110 on a preliminary breath test.

Skawinski arrested Armstrong on suspicion of DUI, and transported her to Warwick Police Headquarters, 99 Veterans Memorial Drive, where she refused the HQ breath test. Skawinski charged her with DUI, blood alcohol unknown, and cited her for refusing the test and traveling at night without lights.