Roderick MacLeod Killed By Motorist With Over 100 Arrests

Grammy-nominated musician Roderick MacLeod was killed Saturday after police say a driver with more than 100 prior arrests veered off a Rhode Island road and hit him while he walked his dog.

Officers responded around 7:21 a.m. to a crash on Spring Street in Hope Valley, the Hopkinton Police Department wrote in a Facebook post. The pedestrian, later identified as MacLeod, was found after a single-vehicle collision involving a car driven by 41-year-old Shannon Godbout. (RELATED: ‘When God Tells Me To’: Conner Smith Leaves His Career In The Hands Of The Lord After Fatal Accident)

Police said Godbout was heading east on Spring Street when she left her lane, struck two telephone poles and then hit MacLeod, who was walking along the shoulder.

Police said MacLeod was taken to Rhode Island Hospital by ambulance and later died from his injuries. Investigators said Godbout was found with “numerous illegal narcotics and packaging materials commonly associated with drug distribution” and was arrested at the scene before being taken to a hospital for evaluation.

Godbout faces preliminary counts of driving so as to endanger resulting in death and possession of Schedule I/II narcotics with intent to distribute, the statement says. She is expected to appear before a Justice of the Peace and will be referred to the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office as a criminal violator because of earlier cases tied to suspended sentences and probation.

Police said the investigation is ongoing and more charges are possible.

Godbout’s record includes more than 100 arrests, eight of them in Hopkinton. She has been the subject of 82 court warrants and has received 40 traffic citations, including seven issued locally, according to police.

MacLeod’s dog survived the crash and ran home, police said.

MacLeod was a Grammy-nominated bassist and a 2012 inductee into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame with Roomful of Blues. His longtime friend and fellow musician Doug James told WJAR he’ll remember MacLeod for his “upbeat and cheerful” spirit.

“He really worked hard at all the stuff he did, but it never looked like that, it always just came very easily — it appeared to come easily,” James said. “He was always great to be around and he was always great to play with. A hundred percent of the people that know him would say exactly the same thing,” he said.

MacLeod was 70.