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December 4, 2006

Man accused of assaulting 2 women who gave him ride

A 26-year-old Massachusetts man has been arrested on several charges stemming from an attack on two women he asked for a ride home from a Providence nightclub early yesterday morning.

Kevin A. Lima, of 6 Garrison Lane in Acushnet, Mass., is accused by the police in Westport, Mass., of assaulting the women and dragging one from the car she had been driving.

He is also accused of stealing the car and giving the police a false ID that he obtained in his job as a car salesman, where he allegedly stole the driver’s license of a prospective customer who took a car out for a test drive.

Today, the police identified the women Lima is accused of assaulting as Tonya Stanton, 20, of North Easton, Mass., who had been driving the car, and Natalya Tavares, 18, of Fall River, Mass., who had been in the front passenger seat.

Lima met the women at a Providence nightclub, The Complex, and asked them for a ride to Dartmouth, Mass., according to Westport Police Sgt. Jeff Majewski. He apparently began arguing with the women when they asked him to leave the car while they were en route to Dartmouth.

From the back seat, according to Majewski, Lima punched Tavares repeatedly while trying to wrest control of the steering wheel from Stanton.

The attack caused Stanton to stop driving while on State Road in Westport. Police said Lima pulled her out of the driver’s seat and punched her repeatedly and then fled the area with the vehicle.

Stanton, who was trying to hold onto the vehicle, was dragged approximately 200 feet. She has been released from Charlton Memorial Hospital, according to Majewski. Tavares required no emergency medical care, the police said.

Lima was to be arraigned in Fall River District Court on multiple charges including carjacking, assault and battery, larceny of a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson, with reports from Journal staff writer Tom Mooney

Posted by Kate Bramson  at 11:49 AM | Permalink

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