Snow plow driver arrested for DUI following hit and run in North Smithfield

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NORTH SMITHFIELD – A man who told police he’d been snow plowing for the state for 32 hours was arrested last month after several witnesses said they saw him hit a car, then drive away – and that he almost crashed into a second vehicle.

Stephen Beauregard, 66, of North Smithfield, was charged with driving under the influence – level unknown, failure to stop for an accident and refusal to submit to a chemical test, following the incident on Sunday, Jan. 23.

According to the arrest report, witnesses first called police for an erratic driver on Douglas Pike swerving between lanes around 6 p.m. Soon after, reports came in that the same truck with a plow had crashed into a car and drove away.

With the help of witnesses who followed the truck, a 2001 Chevy Silverado, police located Beauregard in the driveway of a Douglas Pike home sitting inside the vehicle. The report notes that the driver initially ignored the responding officer, and would not open the locked door of the truck.

“He then appeared to be very confused, and would not shut the vehicle off,” the report notes.

Beauregard told police he’d been plowing for the state for the past 32 hours and admitted to having “some drinks.” The report describes a confusing conversation where at one point, the driver thought he was in Cumberland, before realizing he was parked in his own driveway. An empty bottle of wine was found in the back of the truck.

The victim, a 60-year-old man from Harrisville, told officers he was driving along Douglas Pike with his wife and saw the truck headed toward him. He said he beeped his horn several times and pulled over to the right in attempt to escape a collision, ultimately running into a guard rail. The car had heavy damage to the driver’s side, according to police.

One witness told officers she watched the accident, then watched Beauregard get out to inspect his truck. She said Beauregard got back in and continued driving, nearly hitting a second vehicle on the other side of the road, a truck that was forced to drive into a snow bank.

Beauregard appeared before Judge Anthony Capraro on Tuesday, Feb. 15 pleading nolo contendere to the DUI, while the charge for failure to stop was dropped by the prosecution. His was sentenced to community service, and ordered to attend alcohol counseling and have an interlock system installed on his vehicle.

His extensive past criminal record begins in 1984 and includes multiple counts of driving without a license, assault, breaking and entering, disorderly conduct, violation of a protective order, resisting arrest, malicious damage to property, stalking, obstruction, failure to appear, crank/obscene phone calls, and DUIs in 1995 and 2007.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. I know first hand the accident cause $8,700.00 in damages to the victims vehicle- If not for evasive actions the crash would have been far worse. the guardrail was not the cause of the damage it was when the plow hit the victim’s vehicle. The plow driver then left the scene and was witnessed throwing empty bottles out his window, then drove by the scene again and went home dragging metal and his plow all the way home.

  2. Wow….he will kill someone someday….it has happened when we have seen this in the past. And you wonder why there is no respect for the law….they know they will continuously get away with it.

  3. Seriously, with that record the judge only sentenced him to community service and the other 2 slaps on the wrist???? I must be missing something here; was he sentenced to “years” of community service or a few hours? Mike Clifford

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