WARWICK -- Police say that 17-year-old Jesse Salisbury of West Warwick was skateboarding alongside the northbound lanes of Bald Hill Road when he was struck and killed by a car last night, according to preliminary reports from the department's traffic division.
Police Chief Col. Stephen McCartney said this morning that reports from the department's traffic division indicate that Salisbury was weaving between the breakdown lane and the right travel lane on the northbound side or Bald Hill Road about 10:15 when he was struck near the Kent County Court House.
Salisbury was hit by a 1998 blue Volkswagen driven by Jody Hawkins, 22, of Coventry, McCartney said. He said that according to investigators' reports, Hawkins was in the process of changing from the left travel land to the right when the car hit Salisbury.
The impact caused Salisbury to land on the hood of the car and break through the windshield on the passenger's side, McCartney said.
He said that Salisbury suffered multiple blunt trauma injuries and was rushed by Warwick rescue to Rhode Island Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
At this time no charges have been filed in the accident but it is still under investigation. "At this time no serious charges are pending, but that matter is under investigation and we are looking at things such as speed and the condition of the vehicle," McCartney said.
He added that excessive speed has been ruled out as a cause of the accident.
This morning Michael Conti, 19, of West Warwick was at the accident scene to remember his friend Jesse, who he said was a classmate at West Warwick High School.
Conti said that Salisbury had a passion for skateboarding and "every time you saw (him) he was with a skateboard."
He described his fried as someone who "could always make you smile."
Conti said that friends are expected to gather at the scene tonight.
-- Journal staff writer Barbara Polichetti, with reports from projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney
I wasn't even friends with him, but I'm so shaken up that it's ridiculous.
 Audra Connolly · Thu Jul 31, 2008 @ 04:52pm · 2 Comments |
