One Dead After Car Strikes Bicycle on Bald Hill Road

Editor’s note: This article was written with reports from Bethany Hashway. It was updated at 1:21 p.m. July 18 following the Warwick Police Department’s release of an initial report on the incident.

Update: July 20, 4:32 p.m.:  Warwick Police have released the names of the driver and bicyclist. The driver is Donald Colapietro, 23, of Cranston. The bicyclist killed in the crash is Charles Hawkins, 64, of North Providence. Turnto10.com reports Hawkins was a former aide to Gov. Lincoln Chafee and Sen. John Chafee.

Warwick, RI- A bicyclist died Friday evening at about 6 p.m. when a 1970s era Datsun 280Z struck a bicycle on Bald Hill Road.

The crash occurred near the McDonalds at 876 Bald Hill Road. The road was closed for about an hour as the Warwwick Police Accident Reconstruction Team investigated the scene. Traffic was detoured into the Check n’ Go parking lot on Bald Hill Road.

Warwick Police report the vehicle was traveling north on Bald Hill Road in the left lane when the vehicle collided with the bicyclist, who appears to have been walking his bike across the roadway from the eastbound side of Bald Hill road toward the westbound side. The bicyclist was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

There was apparent damage to the car’s front and passenger side front end.

The victim was a 63-year-old male, and the car’s driver was a 23-year-old man. The bicyclist was apparently walking his bicycle across the road at the time of the crash, according to Warwick Police.

The bicyclist was transported to Rhode Island Hospital by Warwick Fire Rescue with serious injuries where he later died. The bicyclist’s identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, police report. 

Police have not released the name of the person killed, pending notification of the man’s family, or the driver.

The investigation is on-going and any person with information related to the accident is requested to contact the Warwick Police Department’s Traffic Division at 401-468-4293. Please contact either Sgt. Earl Read or Officer Sarkisian who is assigned as the lead investigator.