Driver Dies Tuesday: Woonsocket Police

WOONSOCKET, RI — A Cumberland man died early Tuesday morning on Elder Ballou Meeting House Road near Viva Way. His car veered to the left of the road, hit a stone wall and rode along the wall's edge until it clipped a utility pole and stopped. According to police Capt. Michael Lemoine, the medical examiner is determining the cause of death, which may have been due to a medical emergency and not directly to the crash. The car was not badly damaged, and the air bag did not deploy suggesting the impact was not the cause of death.

"But we will have to wait" for the results from the state medical examiner, he said.

The accident happened around 4:30 a.m. and was reported by a resident who heard the crash. The man, who was 72, did not have a pulse when police arrived on scene. They started cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, and he was taken to Landmark Mefical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

His name is being withheld pending notifications to family.

According to the preliminary investigation, police interviewed the man's wife and learned he had not been feeling well and decided to drive himself to the hospital. He was headed toward Mendon Road and the hospital when the accident happened, police said.