NORTH SMITHFIELD – A Woonsocket man is facing charges for leaving the scene of an accident after North Smithfield Police Chief Tim Lafferty reportedly witnessed his truck scrape against another car stopped at the intersection of Smithfield and Greenville Roads.
Simon Mayancela Velasquez, 24, was arrested on Monday, Feb. 10 for charges of failure to stop and obstructing an officer.
According to the arrest report, Lafferty was stopped at the intersection and observed a large maroon pickup truck pull so close to the operator’s side of another stopped car that it appeared to have made contact with the vehicle. When the traffic light turned green, the chief noticed that the two vehicles remained stopped and appeared to be stuck together.
Lafferty reportedly activated his emergency lights and pulled behind the vehicles but as he exited his cruiser, the truck began to back up, rubbing against the stopped car, and then drove off down Providence Street.
“I got back in my vehicle and moved it to the passenger side of the stopped car so the truck would not strike my car,” Lafferty noted in the narrative.
Lafferty followed the truck but the driver did not initially pull over, eventually coming to a stop at the intersection of Avenue A.
Velasquez, who was driving the truck, only spoke Spanish, and Lafferty and other officers on scene used cell phone translation as well as translators to communicate.
The driver initially gave a fake name, according to reports, and Velasquez was later identified by his neck tattoo. He did not have a valid driver’s license according to police, and said he was driving the truck because the owner, who was in the passenger seat, was highly intoxicated.
Velasquez was given a summons to appear in 3rd District Court as well as several traffic citations.
