The daughter of Vincent J. Mesolella Jr., a prominent former state representative from North Providence, died Sunday morning after a head-on car crash in Port Washington, Long Island.

The Nassau County Police Department said that alcohol appeared to be a factor in the death of Desiree Mesolella, 19, of Lincoln, an aspiring model, clothing designer and student at Adelphi University in nearby Garden City.

Mesolella

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Mesolella was a passenger in a 2007 Honda Civic that was driven by Ansaf G. Imbrahim, 21, of Port Washington. The police said that Imbrahim was driving north on Port Washington Boulevard at 8:29 a.m. when she crossed the center line and crashed into a Toyota heading in the opposite direction.

The impact of the collision forced the Toyota to collide with another car, a 2006 Honda. The drivers of those cars — a 30-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man — were treated for minor injuries at local hospitals.

Mesolella and Imbrahim were taken to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset. Less than three hours later, at 10:54 a.m., Mesolella was pronounced dead.

Imbrahim, whose injuries, the police said, were described as non-life-threatening, was arrested at the hospital and charged with second-degree manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated, reckless driving and the aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

She was expected to be arraigned yesterday in her hospital bed, or in First District Court in Hempstead, Long Island. A spokeswoman at Adelphi said that Imbrahim was not a student at the university.

Mesololla’s father, now a developer, was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Desiree Mesolella was a 2006 graduate of St. Mary Academy-Bay View in East Providence. She had been a past contestant in the Miss Rhode Island Teen USA pageant, gaining recognition in the evening gown portion of the 2005 contest.

Colleen Gribben, principal of St. Mary Academy-Bay View, learned of Mesolella’s death on Sunday afternoon and the news left her shocked. She said that Desiree came to the Catholic school in the fourth grade and stayed through high school. She was a cheerleader and her parents were supportive of Manhattan, an annual fund-raising cabaret.

“She was great,” Gribben said. “She was a very happy kid. She was very social and very outgoing.”

She said that she has not been in touch with Desiree’s parents, Vincent and Donna, but she’s certain that the school will be doing something to honor her memory.

Last summer, Mesolella was recognized on a Web site, 4Zero1.com, as “Model of the Month.” In response to a series of questions, she said that she was taking college business courses and she was interested in owning a clothing boutique in Manhattan. She also said that she loved Las Vegas, Rhode Island beaches and “definitely coffee milk.”

In the fall of 2006, Mesolella enrolled as a freshman at Adelphi University, largely a commuter school with more than 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Its campus is about 20 miles west of New York City.

Bonnie Eissner, Adelphi’s communications director, said Mesolella had recently declared a major — art — and she was wrapping up a summer session of studies that began last month.

“We at the university are saddened by the news,” Eissner said. “Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this most difficult time.”

Mesolella’s father was deputy Democratic majority whip for former House Speaker John B. Harwood, D-Pawtucket. Over the past 14 years, he has been chairman of the Narragansett Bay Commission, the state’s largest sewage-treatment agency.

Besides her parents, Mesolella is survived by a sister, Christina, and two brothers, Derek and Vincent J. Mesolella III.

bmalinow@projo.com