Cranston Man Was Drunk, Hit Parked Car, Fled with Child: Police

A 38-year-old Cranston man is facing a DUI charge after he allegedly hit a parked car and fled the scene with his 10-year-old son in the car on Saturday afternoon..

Police said Christopher M. Otero, 38, of 751 Reservoir Ave., reportedly hit the car in the parking lot of the CVS at 681 Reservoir Ave. at around 1 p.m.

Cranston Police Chief Michael J. Winquist said that police got a report that a man in a black pickup truck had backed into a parked car before driving over the curbing and fleeting from the area.

Witnesses said that they saw a young boy enter the pickup truck before the collision.

Police found the truck a short time later in a nearby parking lot at 725 Reservoir Ave. and Otero was inside, his son was in the passenger seat and the engine was running, police said.

Officers detected signs of intoxication and he was arrested, later registering a .291 blood alcohol content reading in a preliminary breath test a police headquarters — more than three times the legal limit of .08.

Otero is being held overnight and is due to be arraigned before a justice of the peace on Sunday on charges of driving under the influence.

Police said that Otero is on probation for a previous extortion and blackmail conspiracy conviction and will be presented to the court as a probation violator.

Otero was also summonsed for leaving the scene of an accident and driving without insurance.

The boy was unharmed and released to the custody of a relative, Winquist said. The state department of Children, Youth and Families was notified.