Grammy-nominated musician struck and killed by driver with over 100 arrests in Rhode Island, police say

[Coventina]

A Grammy-nominated musician was struck and killed by a driver with more than 100 arrests and dozens of traffic violations in Rhode Island, police said.

Roderick Macleod, 70, was a member of the band Roomful of Blues in the 1980s and received a Grammy nomination for his work with them. He was inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame in 2014, according to local media reports.

Macleod was walking his dogs when he was hit by a car on Saturday, the Hopkinton Police Department said in a news release. The alleged driver was identified by police as as Shannon Godbout. She was 41, CBS Boston reported, and was driving recklessly.

Godbout was allegedly traveling eastbound when she left her lane and struck several objects, including two telephone poles, police said, and Macleod was walking his dogs on the shoulder of the road when he was hit. Photos from the scene show a black vehicle with a destroyed pole.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/roderick-macleod-musician-rhode-island-car-crash-death/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

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How does this happen?
She's white.

The dogs survived the accident and ran home.

[Cha]

1. That is really sad..

Roderick Macleod

[bdamomma]

2. That is rather

tragic, just minding his own business and gets killed.

[littlemissmartypants]

3. ...

[Blue Full Moon]

4. Rich enough to pay the fines.

[calimary]

5. I was going to say take her drivers license away permanently

Last edited Tue Dec 9, 2025, 05:52 PM - Edit history (1)

but I doubt it would stop her from driving, despite it all. I suspect she’s one of those proud members of the NOBODY-Tells-ME-What-To-Do Club.

[OMGWTF]

19. I know the type. My narcissist Talibangelical mother who had a grand mal seizure at 80 years old

was told by her docs that she can't drive for six months in case she has another one. It's the law. She said all she has to do is "pray harder" and kept driving, with her Talibangelical church pastor supporting her decision to be a scofflaw. My brother turned her into the DMV after all efforts at reasoning with her failed. Her religious bullshit destroyed my family.

[ms liberty]

20. No. Arrest her, no bond, no bail, held over for trial. And charge her with 2nd.degree murder

She needs to be in a cell, for the rest of her natural life. Her actions show her to be a danger to others.

[calimary]

27. Yep.

Make sure, somehow, that she’s SERIOUSLY out of business. Period. AND in a cell, for the rest of her natural life.

[mercuryblues]

6. She should have been in prison about

80 arrests ago. Who did she know?

[Blue Full Moon]

15. No jail just fines and reinstatement fees.

Those are nothing to the rich. The fines need to be a percentage.

[RockCreek]

16. In Rhode Island, who you know is everything

[mercuryblues]

23. Hey, it was in RI that I found out that some tolls give

you an idiot pass.

[calimary]

28. Thread winner!!!

[maxsolomon]

7. Likely she is not allowed to drive but does so anyway.

Many people w/ DUIs assert they have to drive to get to work, so they're ordered to install Ignition Interlocks. Unfortunately, the state often doesn't have personnel to confirm they're installed and working.

I'm not sure where "she's white" plays into it.

[Coventina]

8. Do you seriously think that a black or brown woman arrested 100 times

would still be free and on the streets?

[cayugafalls]

10. Exactly. The people get 3 strikes, those with $$$ get to pay 200$ and get out of jail free.

There is a literal game made a century ago that told us all we needed to know.

Monopoly. Yup, a game but it simply tells a story that wealth = power.

[maxsolomon]

13. I don't know. It's possible.

Maybe I'm just naive and don't understand how blatantly racist Rhode Island's justice system is.

I don't know everything this woman's been arrested for, though I saw the list. Arrested isn't charged.

I know that I see people on SM screaming constantly that criminals are set free on recognizance or on bail or given time served, etc. and lenient Liberal Pustices and Democratic Prosecutors are to blame for a revolving-door system - but non-violent offenders tend to make bail.

This is a homicide. She won't get out of this one just because she's white.

[Coventina]

14. Blacks and Hispanics Disproportionately Jailed in Rhode Island, National Report Indicates

The Rhode Island ACLU said today that the release of a national report analyzing incarceration rates across the country demonstrates the need for a broader commitment to address racial profiling and related problems of racial disparities in Rhode Island’s criminal justice system. The report, “Uneven Justice: State Rates of Incarceration by Race and Ethnicity,” was released this past week by The Sentencing Project, located in Washington D.C., and examined nationwide prison statistics for 2005.

Although Rhode Island’s overall incarceration rate for all races is lower than that of most states, the report documents that the ratio of incarceration for blacks and Hispanics within the state, when compared to whites, was well above the national average. Rhode Island had the eighth highest ratio in the country of Hispanic to white inmate population, and the ninth highest ratio when it came to African-Americans.

Specifically, according to 2005 statistics, when comparing incarceration rates per population of 100,000 in Rhode Island, great disparities exist between these rates for whites, blacks and Hispanics. The incarceration rate for Hispanics was 631 per 100,000, and 1,838 per 100,000 for blacks, while the rate for whites in Rhode Island was only 191. In other words, per population, blacks were 9.6 times more likely than whites to be incarcerated in Rhode Island, and Hispanics were 3.3 times more likely to be incarcerated – nearly twice the national ratios for the two groups was 5.6 and 1.8, respectively.

The statistics remain troubling when compared to overall national averages. Despite the fact that the state’s overall rates of incarceration are lower than the national average, whites, comparatively, were still significantly underrepresented in the incarcerated population when compared to blacks and Hispanics.

https://www.riaclu.org/news/blacks-and-hispanics-disproportionately-jailed-rhode-island-national-report-indicates/#:~:text=The%20Rhode%20Island%20ACLU%20said%20today%20that,disparities%20in%20Rhode%20Island's%20criminal%20justice%20system.

**************

Yes, dated, but a quick google indicates nothing has changed in RI

[RockCreek]

17. Hopkinton is in the deepest red area of RI

Article says that is where previous convictions registered.
Trump MAGA signs everywhere there in 2016. I haven't driven through in a few years.

[MichMan]

26. Yes, as some recent incidents have shown

Lawrence Reed in Chicago that killed a woman on a train by setting her on fire was arrested 72 times. I guess that isn't 100.

[DFW]

9. I'm not sure where race comes into it.

Especially in New England.

But vehicular homicide while under the influence after 100 DUI citations should be good for 15 or 20 years even if the judge’s name is Johnnie Walker Seagram.

[Coventina]

11. Please see my comment above. n/t

[yliza]

18. As a Black woman who lived in New England for almost two decades

Yes, New England can be racist. So can California, where I also lived for over a decade. I was denied the use of a dressing room at a boutique in Connecticut, and got the “affirmative action recipient” tirade from a fellow student because I was admitted to graduate school while he had flunked out. In Cali I had a really hard time finding a place to rent in San Diego, which was at that time a segregated city. These are just two examples.

So yes, race definitely can be a factor, and racism isn’t confined to the red states.

[DFW]

22. I'm well aware. I have lived and worked in Boston

It still doesn’t mean the killer driver has a better vhance of leniency because she’s white. A hundred DUIs and then a vehicular homicide won’t get you leniency just for being white. I’ve seen enough “Karens” get into trouble for their behaviour, and they were all white.

[twodogsbarking]

12. So sad. For those affected and the justice "system".

[Hotler]

21. I have several of their CD's. Always had a great horn section. Cross gently nt

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

24. " she has received 40 traffic citations"

[Totally Tunsie]

25. Nice profile of Rory Macleod...

https://turnto10.com/news/local/friends-remember-hopkinton-man-killed-in-pedestrian-crash-musician-grammy-nominated-hope-valley-bassist-roomful-of-blues-december-7-2025

[ColoringFool]

29. The Surviving Driver IS 41, Not Was. N/T.