The Police Log is a digest of reports filed by the Warwick Police Department.

LARCENIES

On March 15 at 9:13 a.m., Officer Stephen Major was dispatched to the lobby of Warwick Police Department headquarters in reference to a larceny from a motor vehicle.

Upon arrival, Major met with a man who said between the hours of 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on March 11, he had parked his vehicle in the parking lot adjacent to Doherty’s, 30 Jefferson Boulevard. When he came out from spending some time in the restaurant, he discovered his Lenovo laptop valued at $1,500 or more was stolen from his vehicle. He said there was no damage to his vehicle and he feels entry was made through the hatchback, which he said he usually locks but maybe not this time.

At the time of this report, Major said the man had not yet returned to police headquarters with the serial number for the laptop to be entered as stolen into NCIC.

On March 17 at 4:25 p.m., Officer Ryan Lancaster was dispatched to an address on West Shore Road for a report of tools missing from a garage. Upon arrival, Lancaster spoke with the homeowner, a woman who said a number of items were found to be missing from their garage, which is not attached to the residence but is on the side street Kenneth Avenue. The items included a Husqvarna gas leaf blower valued at $350, a Cub Cadet snowblower valued at $700, a rigid circular saw valued at $100, a Ryobi weed whacker valued at $100, and a DeWalt skill saw valued at $130. The woman said the tools were last seen in the garage at 8:30 the night before and were noticed to be missing at 8 that morning. Lancaster said the garage door had been left open throughout the night and as a result there was no force used to enter.

The woman did not have any information that would lead to possible suspects. Lancaster said there is a Shell gas station directly across from Kenneth Avenue from the garage and there appears to be a camera on the exterior of the building, which covers the parking lot on Kenneth Avenue. Lancaster said he spoke with the clerk who was working at the time at the Shell station, but he was unable to view any surveillance footage from the cameras, saying his manager is the only person who can. The manager could not be contacted at the time due to usually working daytime hours beginning around 8 a.m.

Lancaster said he had no further information regarding possible suspects or vehicles involved, but would forward his report to detectives for follow-up due to his work hours not coinciding with the Shell manager.

SHOPLIFTING

On March 14 at 7:34 p.m., Officer Gregory Accinno was dispatched to Sports Authority, 400 Bald Hill Road, for a report of a shoplifter. Upon arrival, Accinno met with Warwick Mall security in the Target store, who had a female in their custody identified as Sarah Griffin, 34, of Fall River, Mass.

Accinno then met with a Sports Authority manager, who said she observed Griffin entering the fitting room with some apparel items, a few of which were left behind with two cut sensors and a tag off one of the items. Griffin was then observed leaving the store, passing all points of sale, and making no attempt to pay for the concealed merchandise. The manager contacted mall security, who caught up with Griffin at Target.

Griffin was taken into custody and transported to Warwick Police Department headquarters, where she was fingerprinted, photographed, and processed without incident. She was charged with shoplifting and unlawful use and/or removal of theft detection devices. Accinno said a box cutter and wire cutters found in Griffin’s purse were tagged as evidence and placed into the BCI mailbox. He said it should be noted that several broken security devices were found in the trash can outside of Target. One jacket that Griffin had in her possession was ripped due to her breaking off the security device. All six shoplifted merchandise items were recovered, totaling $168.19.

Due to her extensive Massachusetts BCI, Griffin was held at Warwick police headquarters until seen by a judge in the morning.

DUI & REFUSAL

On March 17 at 1:53 a.m., Officer Michael Harris was on routine patrol in an unmarked police vehicle when he was nearly hit by another vehicle traveling southbound on Bald Hill Road as it ran a red light at the intersection of College Hill and Bald Hill Road. Harris said he had to maneuver his vehicle out of the way to prevent a collision and then began to follow the vehicle that almost struck his cruiser. Harris said the rear windshield of the 2000 gold Chevy Blazer bearing R.I. registration was smashed out and as he followed the vehicle, it swerved in and out of its travel lane and made an abrupt right hand turn onto Toll Gate Road westbound without signaling. Harris said he conducted a motor vehicle stop on Toll Gate Road in the area of Senior City. As the vehicle pulled to the roadside, it struck the curb.

Harris made contact with the operator, who identified himself as Nathan Brotherton, 30, of Warwick. Harris said Brotherton initially looked at the officer through the window with a blank stare and would not roll the window down. Once he did, Harris said he detected the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath, his speech was thick-tongued and slurred, his eyes were severely bloodshot, and his face was blushed and red. Brotherton could not answer basic questions pertaining to where he was coming from and where he was headed and he could not provide any of the requested documentation such as identification, registration and insurance. While conducting a brief visual search of the vehicle, Harris said he saw two full-unopened beer cans in the passenger compartment and one opened and crushed beer can just behind the driver’s seat in the passenger compartment.

After requesting police assistance to the scene, Harris had Brotherton exit his vehicle. As he did so, he had difficulty walking and had to be escorted to the front of his vehicle. Harris said based on his investigation at the scene and Brotherton’s performance on the standardized field sobriety tests, he found him unfit to operate a motor vehicle safely due to the intoxicating effects of liquor and/or drugs. Brotherton refused to submit to a preliminary breath test on scene. He was taken into custody and the beer cans from his vehicle were seized and photographed.

Brotherton was transported to Warwick police headquarters without incident, where he also refused to submit to a chemical test. Brotherton was issued violations for refusal to submit to a chemical test first offense, refusal to submit to a preliminary breath test, and for presence of alcoholic beverages with a mandatory Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal court date. He was also charged with obedience to traffic control devices, laned roadway violations, and no insurance (second offense), also with an R.I. Traffic Tribunal court date, and for DUI (first offense, BAC unknown) with a mandatory district court date.

Harris said Brotherton was then released to his mother, but at approximately 4:40 a.m., he was advised by dispatch that Brotherton had jumped out of his mother’s moving vehicle on Centerville Road and ran off. Harris was requested to respond to the area, where he located Brotherton at Centerville and Commonwealth Avenue walking westbound on the roadside, with a traffic cone on his head. Based on the fact that Brotherton was still too intoxicated to care for himself and could not be controlled by his mother, he was transported to Kent Hospital for detox.