Motorcycle Rider Crashes Into Tiverton Police Cruiser; Three Arrested

Three Massachusetts men, including a Seekonk resident, were arrested by  last week for motorcycle drag racing down a residential street. One rider crashed into a police cruiser.

Edward Carvalho, 26, of 255 Fall River Ave., Seekonk, and Brandon G. Duarte, 24, and John F. Duarte, 20, both of Fall River, MA, were all arrested last Thursday, Sept. 1, on Tiverton's Shove Street. All three were charged with one count of reckless driving and one count of drag racing.

John Duarte was also charged with not having the appropriate driver's license and failure to maintain proper control of his vehicle.

According to Lt. Patrick Jones, Sgt. Timothy Panell was on a radar post at approximately 3:52 p.m. last Thursday on Canonicus Street in North Tiverton. While on the post, he saw a motorcycle heading west toward Shove Street drive by at a radar speed of 71 mph in a posted 25 mph zone. Jones said Panell turned on his emergency lights and pulled over the driver, later identified as Carvalho.

Jones said as Panell prepared to exit his vehicle, two additional motorcycles, later identified as being operated by the Duartes, were coming down Cananicus Street in the same direction at a "high rate of speed."

Jones said the motorcycle operated by John Duarte attempted to brake, leaving several hundred feet of skid marks in the roadway, and struck the rear portion of Panell's cruiser. The bike went partially underneath the cruiser. There was damage to the motorcycle and none to the car, Jones added.

"He was wearing a helmet," Jones said.

Panell radioed in for assistance and to check on the condition of the John Duarte, who was transported to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence to be treated for his injuries, which are non-life threatening, Jones added.

He said the accident is being reconstructed by detectives and based on witness statements, all three individuals received those charges.