PROVIDENCE – A dean of students for public schools in Cranston, R.I., who was arrested and charged with drunken driving in March after officers allegedly found him passed out behind the wheel of an SUV, has pleaded no contest to an amended charge, court filings show.
In Kent County District Court in Warwick on Monday, a charge of driving under the influence of liquor against Vincent L. Turchetta, Jr., 61, was amended to a charge of reckless driving and other offenses against public safety, according to court records.
Turchetta pleaded nolo contendere to the updated charge.
A plea of nolo contendere means the defendant neither accepts nor denies responsibility for the charges, but agrees to accept punishment.
Records show police dropped a charge of refusal to submit to a chemical test filed in the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal.
An attorney for Turchetta did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.
According to court records, Judge Colleen Hastings ordered the case be filed for one year – “with no further loss of license” – which allows the matter to be dismissed in a year if Turchetta keeps clear of any brushes with law enforcement.
In an email, Jennifer Cowart, a spokesperson for Cranston Public Schools, confirmed Turchetta remains a district employee and said the district had no further comment on the matter.
Cowart would not answer questions about whether Turchetta, who was previously released on personal recognizance, had continued to work since his arrest on March 31.
According to a police report, authorities responded to a 911 call around 12:44 a.m., reporting a man passed out behind the wheel of a Volvo SUV at the intersection of Park and Reservoir avenues.
Police found the vehicle stopped in the westbound turning lane, and body camera video footage shows an officer knocked on the driver’s side window of the SUV several times. When the man, who identified himself on video as Turchetta, responded, the officer told him to take his foot off the brake, put the car in park, and turn off the engine, the footage shows.
The video shows Turchetta told police he was heading home after going to a house party in Warwick, and that he had three beers.
When asked why he was stopped at the intersection, Turchetta told police, “I don’t know, man. I was just trying to get home,” the video shows.
Officer Nicholas Snowling wrote that while he was speaking to Turchetta, he could “smell a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath, along with mumbled speech and blood shot water[y] eyes.”
Turchetta declined to take field sobriety tests and was placed under arrest, police said.
According to a 2021 report from The Cranston Herald, Turchetta previously served on the Cranston School Committee.
Material from a previous Globe story was used in this report.
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