3 Fatal RI Crashes In 13 Hours

Three fatal crashes killed two Massachusetts residents and one Rhode Island resident in a roughly 13-hour span this weekend. Now State Police urging motorists to use caution the rest of Labor Day weekend.

A 26-year-old Scituate resident died late Sunday morning when his vehicle crashed and caught fire on Route 6 near the I-295 on-ramp in Johnston. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

Not long before that crash, a 31-year-old Stoughton man died when he lost control of his motorcycle on I-95 in Providence. The victim was pronounced dead at Rhode Island Hospital.

The other crash occurred late Saturday night that saw two motorcycles collide with an SUV on I-95 North in Warwick. One motorcyclist, identified as Dervi Pena, 24, of Providence, was pronounced dead at Kent Hospital.

The other motorcyclist and a third were taken to Kent Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

"The Labor Day holiday weekend historically is one of the deadliest in terms of motor vehicle crashes," Colonel Ann C. Assumpico of Rhode Island State Police and director of the Department of Public Safety said in a statement. "We strongly encourage motorists to use extra caution and to report anyone who may be driving in an unsafe or dangerous manner."

Additional troopers will be assigned to patrol.

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