WW Driver Faces Hit & Run DUI Charges Jan. 6

WARWICK, RI — A West Warwick driver has a Jan. 6 date in Third District Court on hit & run DUI charges after reportedly striking a car in the Bald Hill Road Taco Bell drive thru and driving away before returning to the drive thru while police were taking witness reports.

Officer Noah Kane was called to the 877 Bald Hill Road location Nov. 15 at 12:49 a.m. for a report of a hit & run DUI driver in a white Audi sedan.

According to Kane’s report, the driver of a gray 2017 Honda Civic told officers that the Audi had rear-ended his car while they were in the drive through line. The Civic driver got out to speak with the Audi driver, later identified as Russell Faria, 39, of 50 Pleasant St., West Warwick, RI, who spoke with extremely slurred speech.

The driver also noted Faria’s stance was unsteady and his eyes were bloodshot. Faria denied hitting the Honda with his car, and began approaching the other driver, prompting him to yell at him to keep away. Faria reportedly got back into his Audi and drove out of the drive-through line, striking the Honda’s rear fender a second time before pulling onto Bald Hill Road headed south.

As WPD officers were speaking with witnesses, WPD Sgt. Sarah Goes informed Kane that the White Audi had pulled back into the drive through line. Goes stopped the car and asked Faria to step out of the vehicle.

Goes reported Faria appeared unsteady on his feet as he got out of the Audi. Kane escorted him to a flat section of the restaurant’s lot, and asked him how much he had drank that night. Faria replied that he’d had two IPAs, but declined to say where he had been. Faria also refused to perform sobriety tests.

A drive through worker told the officers Faria had spoken unintelligibly at the drive-through speaker, so they had asked him to pull forward to speak with them at the window. Shortly after, the Honda driver knocked at the window to report the car had struck theirs. She also positively identified Faria as the driver, and confirmed he was the same person who had gone through the drive through the first time.

Kane arrested Faria on suspicion of DUI, and transported him to Warwick Police Headquarters, 99 Veterans Memorial Drive, where he also refused to submit to a breath test of his blood alcohol level.

Hit & Run DUI Charges, Arraignment, Court Dates

Kane charged Faria with DUI, blood alcohol unknown, leaving the scene of a crash involving damage to the other vehicle, and cited him for refusing the breath test. He was arraigned in Third District Court on Nov. 15, where he plead not guilty. He attended a pre-trial conference Dec. 9 and is scheduled for another Jan. 6.

He was released on $1,000 personal recognizance with a pre-trial services requirement for alcohol monitoring.