Police: Woman Charged with DUI After Hitting Pedestrian Outside Mardi Gras

A 49-year-old West Greenwich woman is facing charges of driving under the influence after she allegedly struck a pedestrian outside the Mardi Gras nightclub in Cranston early Saturday morning.

Cranston Police Chief Col. Michael J. Winquist said that police were dispatched to the club at around 1 a.m. after a report of a car hitting a pedestrian.

Police said officers arrived and saw a car on its side and a woman, identified as Lorna M. Grassel, 49, of 90 Kimberly Drive, West Greenwich, inside the car and showing “obvious signs of intoxication.”

Grassel had reportedly tried to leave the parking lot when she hit a man, whose head struck the hood of her car before he was thrown between two parked cars.

After the impact, Grassel reportedly continued forward, struck a retaining wall and overturned to its side.

Police had to smash a side window to remove Grassel, who failed a field sobriety test at the scene.

Grassel refused a chemical test at police headquarters, Winquist said, and was arraigned before a justice of the peace on charges of driving under the influence and refusing a chemical test. She was released on personal recognizance with a future court date.

The pedestrian was transported for non life-threatening injuries at Rhode Island Hospital and was released.