Man Faces May Road Rage Charge June 30

WARWICK, RI — A Cranston man turned himself in to Warwick Police May 5 on a warrant for throwing objects at a woman’s car in a road rage incident on Airport Road and Post Road April 15.

The warrant was the result of an April 15 report at 6:11 p.m. by a woman who told officer Derek Hagopian that the driver of a Ford Escape had started following her as she drove her 2016 Chevy Trax on Airport Road approaching Hooters at 667 Airport Road. The Escape began following too closely she said, then pulled alongside her vehicle in the right hand lane. The driver, a man, rolled down his window and spat at her Chevy, she said, according to Hagopian’s report.

The man then threw a bottle of Gatorade at her vehicle, and then a lighter and other items, which struck the Chevy, according to the report. The blue Explorer then changed lanes to the left in front of her, cutting her off and nearly causing a crash, the woman reported. The Ford took a right at the light for Post Road, and the woman was also driving in that direction, so she took the same right turn, according to the report.

The woman said traffic on Post Road forced her to pull alongside the Ford, which was immediately to her right. The cars stopped, and the man threw another object at her Chevy, yelling at her to get out of the car and perform a sex act, according to the report.

The woman had recorded a “significant amount” of the incident on her camera, Hagopian reported, verifying much of her story. The footage also allowed Hagopian to identify the license plate on the Ford, to verify the location of the interactions, and to witness the driver’s language and behavior, which included the thrown objects, sticking his middle finger up at the woman, and swearing including him telling the woman to “go f**k yourself.”

Hagopian looked up the registration and called the owner of the Ford,  a woman, who identified the person driving her vehicle as her husband, Jao Estrela, 49, of 740 Dyer Ave., Apt. 2, Cranston, RI. A short time later, Estrela called Hagopian and admitted to driving the Ford during what he described as a “road rage” incident after the other driver tried to “run him off the road”, but denied that he had thrown anything at the Chevy.

Hagopian secured an arrest warrant for Estrela for Throwing Articles at Moving Vehicles and also for Driving with a Suspended License, fourth offense.

Estrela was arraigned in Third District Court June 1, released on $2,000 personal recognizance and scheduled for a pretrial conference on the Throwing Articles at Moving Vehicles charge June 30. He was issued a $210 fine for driving with a suspended license.