Police Log: Man Charged With Jan. 1 Hit And Run Of Woman

Woonsocket Police report a driver's failure to stop after striking a pedestrian with his car Jan. 1 earned him a felony charge on Jan. 17.

At about 1:54 a.m. Jan. 1, Officer Christopher M. Bouvier responded to 233 Second Ave. for a report of a motor vehicle accident involving a pedestrian. When he arrived, Katelynn Dethsouvanh, 17, was lying on the front porch at the address, concious but crying, he reported. She and the group told Bouvier that a car had struck her as she crossed the street and left the area. 

The girl's boyfriend described the car as dark colored with a loud muffler. Dethsouvanh was transported to RI Hospital, where she was initially diagnosed with a broken arm and other possible broken bones. 

One of the people in the group threw a bottle of liquor at the vehicle, possible causing a dent, according to police reports.

Woonsocket Detectives were informed by Dethsouvanh's mother on Jan. 17 that information on Twitter suggested Edgardo J. Malave-Roman, 18, of 277 Burnside Ave., may have been the driver. They asked Malave-Roman to come to the Woonsocket Police Department on Clinton Street to talk.

According to a police report, Malave-Roman said he had been the designated driver at a party that night at the corner of Third Avenue and Chestnut Street. 

Malave-Roman said he drove his friends home down Third Avenue at about 1:30 a.m. Detective Justin A. Glode asked if Malave-Roman had hit anything during the drive. Malave-Roman said that he may have hit a snowbank, but didn't think so, according to the police report. He said he had been nervous that evening because his car's exhaust is very loud and may have attracted the attention of police.

Malave-Roman had driven his dark blue Honda Civic to the station, which officers noticed had a dent in the rear where an object may have hit it. 

Glode arrested Malave-Roman, charging him with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in injury.