06/27/09 - An Interstate engineer died early Tuesday morning after the pickup truck he was riding in slammed into a utility pole off Corn Neck Road, police said. Police have charged the driver, also an Interstate engineer, with drunken driving charges in the collision that left two other passengers injured.

Police identified the victim as 28-year-old Mitchell Paskins, a native of Australia who lived in Narragansett. Interstate Director of Security Bill McCombe said the company hired Paskins as a seasonal engineer just a few days before his death. He had lived in Narragansett for at least 10 years, McCombe said.

On Tuesday, police charged Craig C. Huntley, 56, of Narragansett, with refusing a chemical test, driving under the influence, death resulting and driving to endanger, death resulting. The latter are felony charges. Huntley is free on bail, but is on leave from his position at Interstate, McCombe said. Interstate hired Huntley about a year ago, McCombe said.

“Certainly it’s a tragedy and our thoughts certainly go to the families,” McCombe said.

Police Chief Vincent Carlone said Huntley and his three passengers were traveling south on Corn Neck Road before the GMC 2400 pickup veered off the right side of the road. It hit a tree, stonewall and utility pole before stopping in the road. At some point, Paskins was ejected through a window and landed sprawled on the road. Dr. Paul Mann from the Medical Center pronounced him dead at the scene near Bush Lot Hill.

Carlone declined to identify the two other passengers, other than to say they were both women. One works for Interstate Navigation and the other was a visitor, Carlone said. The two were treated by Medical Center staff and released.

Carlone said the four were coming from Settlers Rock around 1:10 a.m. after going for a drive. Local police have called in the State Police’s accident reconstruction team, but Carlone said it appears excessive speed and poor judgment played a role in the crash.

And while the police routinely arrest drivers for operating while impaired, Carlone said that fatal crashes were unusual on Block Island.

“This is a fluke because we really have sent a strong message you will be prosecuted,” Carlone said.

Carlone said Tuesday’s death was the first vehicle death since 2002. In that year, a 17-year-old boy crashed on Corn Neck Road and killed his teenage passenger. That same year a musician killed a fellow band member by driving into him.

In a sad twist, the Providence Journal reported that a drunken driver killed Huntley’s father 18 years ago on Post Road in East Greenwich.