Woman Hit by Car on 295, 81, Dies from Injuries

An 81-year-old woman who was struck by a car on Interstate 295 late Friday night in Cranston has died from her injuries, police said.

The woman has not been identified pending notification to all family members.

Police said the accident occurred just before 11 p.m. last night. The initial call had police thinking there was a stranded motorist on I-295 just south of Route 37, but when police arrived, they found several passers by tending to a woman who had been hit by a passing car.

The woman was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital where she was pronounced dead a short time later.

Police said the woman had stopped her green Kia SUV in the breakdown lane on an angle, "with her tires resting on the fog line," said Cranston Police Major Robert W. Ryan.

The SUV "did not have its flashers or headlights on at the time of the accident" and witnesses said there were no street lights along that stretch of the highway.

Members of the Cranston Police Department's Accident Reconstruction Team determined that the woman was standing outside her car along the driver's door partially into the lane of travel.

That was when she was stuck by 29-year-old Stephen Altomari of Greenvile, who told police he thought he sideswiped the SUV in the breakdown lane "but had no idea he struck the woman," Ryan said.

Altomari took the next available exit to turn around and return to the scene. He called the Rhode Island State Police to report the accident. After questioning and the investigation at the scene, police concluded there was "no evidence or indication of excessive speed or any form of impairment," Ryan said. "He reported he simply did not see the woman standing in the roadway due to the dark conditions."

The investigation is ongoing.