RIPTA Driver Charged after Road Rage Incident in Middletown

A Tiverton man and Rhode Island Public Transit Authority bus driver was charged with vandalism and disorderly conduct after he allegedly pounded on the roof of a woman’s car during a road rage incident on East Main Road in Middletown Aug. 22.

Police said the victim called police at around 7 p.m. and said she was sitting in her car at a red light when the bus driver, identified as Edward Howell, 57, of 32 John Duggan Road, Tiverton, got off the bus and began pounding on the roof of her car.

Howell was apparently upset when the victim used her phone while in her car, prompting him to scream through his window “it’s idiots like you who put my nephew in the hospital” before he got out of the bus.

The bus was stopped a short time later by Newport police further along the route and Howell admitted to hitting the woman’s car, telling police he lost his temper and made a mistake.

Howell was taken into custody without incident and later released with a a Sept. 5 District Court summons.