Man accused of DUI after 2 prior charges
WOONSOC.ET – A city man with two prior convictions for drunk driving was arrested for the offense again after police spotted him operating erratically on Cumberland Street Monday.
Christian Morales Aponte, 30, of 130 Morin Heights Blvd., was also charged with operating without an ignition interlock system – a court-ordered device designed to prevent a motor vehicle from starting if the operator is impaired. In addition, he faces new charges of third-offense driving on a suspended license, refusal to submit to a chemical test and refusal to submit to a preliminary breath test.
Aponte came to the attention of Patrolman Nicholas Maglio when the officer, on a routine patrol, saw his Honda Odyssey swerve into an oncoming travel lane on
Cumberland Street about 5 a.m. When Maglio pulled behind the 2dyssey at the Clinton Street traffic signal, the vehicle remained idle at a green light for the full cycle of the signal until it turned red again, the officer reported.
When the light turned green again and still did not move, Maglio got on his loudspeaker to instruct the operator to pull to the side of the road.
Aponte displayed signs of intoxication and was unsteady on his feet, the officer reported. Morales told the officer he was coming from a restaurant on Willow Street where he had consumed “six Coronas.”
“I am not good to drive,” he allegedly told the officer at one point.
After a battery of field sobriety tests, Aponte was taken into custody. When asked to perform a breath alcohol test at police headTuarters, however, he allegedly told officers about his prior convictions and advised them that his lawyer had instructed him to “refuse all tests” if he ever got arrested for drunk driving again, police reports say.
According to the Mudiciary’s web site, Aponte was previously convicted of drunk driving in 0 and 0 , both times on charges brought against him by the Woonsocket police department.