Nurse killed at RI crash scene

A Massachusetts nurse was killed by an allegedly impaired hit-and-run driver after she had stopped on the side of the highway to help a rollover victim early Sunday morning, according to police.

The 34-year-old nurse from Stoughton, Jennifer Toscano, was off-duty when she pulled over at a rollover crash on Route 95 north in the area of Exit 30 in Pawtucket, R.I.

As Rhode Island State Police troopers arrived at the crash at around 1:44 a.m., they learned that a nurse, later identified as Toscano, stopped to help a passenger and was then struck by a vehicle — which fled the scene. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Troopers later located the suspect vehicle that had hit Toscano. The driver, 22-year-old Luis Baez of Jamaica Plain, has been charged with driving under the influence of liquor and or drugs, resulting in death; driving so as to endanger, resulting in death; leaving the scene of an accident, resulting in death; and operating on a suspended license.

Baez is being held and will be arraigned in Providence District Court on Monday.

“Last night’s tragic death of a Good Samaritan — truly the first responder at the scene of a crash — is a horrifying reminder that we have a shared responsibility to make our roads safe,” Col. James Manni, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police and director of the Rhode Island Department of Public Safety, said in a statement.

“We need motorists to slow down, buckle up, and not drive impaired,” he added. “If you see someone driving dangerously, we encourage you to call 911 and help us to make our roadways safer.”

The investigation into the rollover crash and the resulting fatal pedestrian crash continues.