The Johnston police charged Louis L. Vinagro Jr., the former pig farmer and trash hauler and one.time Johnston mayoral candidate, with drunken driving after responding Friday afternoon to reports that a motorist was driving erratically on Central Avenue and had sideswiped three cars.

Vinagro 56, was behind the wheel when he was pulled over shortly after 4 p.m. by an officer who saw him “swerving” east on the road, Deputy Police Chief Garry Maddocks said yesterday.

The deputy’s brother, Patrolman Troy Maddocks, who made the stop, asked Vinagro — whom he did not recognize — to step out of the car, but Vinagro was “incoherent” and needed help removing his seat belt, the deputy chief said.

He said the officer called for backup and it took several officers to remove Vinagro from the car because “he couldn’t stand up by himself.”

The police impounded the 2000 Mercury Marquis whose passenger-side mirror was damaged, as well as a 12-pack of beer in the back seat. The police arrested Vinagro for suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

A rescue brought Vinagro to Rhode Island Hospital, where he refused to submit to a blood-alcohol test, the police said.

He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, driving with a suspended license and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident and several other moving violations, Maddocks said. He also was charged with refusing a chemical breath test, an administrative violation.

It was the second time in less than two months that Vinagro had refused a chemical breath test; his driver’s license was suspended June 19 after he was stopped by the state police and refused the test, according to Maddocks.

Vinagro was held overnight at the Johnston police station, where he was arraigned the next morning morning before bail commissioner Richard Finnegan. He was released on $50,000 bail with surety pending an appearance Aug. 13 in District Court, Warwick.

Vinagro, who gave his address as 698 Central Ave., Johnston, is the former owner of the trash-hauling and recycling firm New England Ecological Development Corp. In August 2002, a raging fire at the site destroyed a huge warehouse and killed at least a dozen pigs.

The fire occurred two years after Vinagro ran as a write-in candidate for mayor.

For more than two decades, Vinagro battled with state environmental officials over illegal dumping and other violations at his properties.

In 2003, he was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for tax evasion for failing to report a half-million dollars in income from his trash-hauling business. He was released in March 2004.

larditi@projo.com