Tragic Shooting Incident Unfolds in Rhode Island
In a harrowing incident, Rhode Island police officers fatally shot a driver in Providence after a pursuit spanning over 20 miles in their attempt to apprehend him. Tragically, the driver’s teenage daughter, who was a passenger in the vehicle, sustained a gunshot wound to the leg, according to police reports.
During a press conference held on Saturday, authorities disclosed that two police officers involved in the pursuit, as well as a hospital nurse, suffered injuries.
The incident began when police attempted to stop 40-year-old Michael Pinto, a resident of Glocester, Rhode Island, for a motor vehicle violation in the town of Burrillville. Pinto evaded the police after a brief chase. On Friday night, Burrillville police again encountered Pinto, now wanted on an arrest warrant for eluding the police. At the time, Pinto was on probation for an animal cruelty charge.
The pursuit led the officers briefly into Massachusetts before returning to Route 146 in Rhode Island, where heavy traffic conditions prevailed. Police made efforts to surround Pinto’s vehicle with their own, but the situation took a perilous turn. Pinto drove towards one of the officers, causing injury, and that officer fired two shots at Pinto’s car before it fled and collided with a police cruiser.
Subsequently, police spotted Pinto’s car in Providence, initiating another chase that ended in traffic. During this pursuit, an officer was injured while attempting to extract Pinto from the vehicle. Pinto put his car in reverse, striking an unmarked police vehicle and then running over sidewalks, where he hit a nurse from a nearby hospital, as reported by Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez.
As the situation escalated, two Providence police officers approached Pinto’s car, one from the front and the other from the rear, as the vehicle began to reverse once more. In response to the imminent threat, the officers fired their weapons. Pinto and his minor daughter were subsequently removed from the car. Pinto later succumbed to his injuries at a hospital, while his daughter survived.
It is worth noting that the police officers involved were unaware of the presence of the daughter in the vehicle. The discovery of her injury came to light only after Pinto’s death.
Currently, the Providence officers and the Burrillville officer are on administrative leave while state police and the attorney general’s office conduct an investigation into the incident.