Police Log

Posted 7/31/14

VIKING BUSTED HIM

A number of officers were dispatched to the area of Wendy’s restaurant near Rhode Island Mall around 1:35 p.m. on July 11 for a robbery in progress. Dispatch informed them that …

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Police Log

Posted

VIKING BUSTED HIM

A number of officers were dispatched to the area of Wendy’s restaurant near Rhode Island Mall around 1:35 p.m. on July 11 for a robbery in progress. Dispatch informed them that a suspect grabbed an employee’s wallet from her purse and was running out the door when another employee grabbed him but could not hold onto him. The man ran towards CCRI across the street and was followed into the woods by Officer Aaron Steere and his K-9 partner, Viking. He said they initially checked the bus stop but did not see the suspect. He said he let Viking out of the car on a harness and followed him into the woods as he heard a broadcast saying he was in the woods near the pumping station on Commonwealth Avenue. He said Viking tracked the suspect for about a quarter of a mile and then back toward the scene of the crime. He said Viking raised his head, indicating he had a scent and led him to a man who was laying face down in some weeds. He said he told the man to put his hands up and come out or he would send Viking in. He said the man was told to do that several times before he got up and tried to run away. Viking was given the word and he grabbed the man by the waist of his pants and knocked him to the ground. Steere told him to stop fighting the dog and he would command him to stop. He said the man gave up and Viking let him go. David W. Laffargue, 32, of 246 Gardner Ave., New London, Conn., was taken to headquarters, where he was charged with larceny and held for the bail commissioner.

VIKING

DOES IT AGAIN

Officer Aaron Steere and Viking met with Pawtucket Police and agents from the DEA at the UPS facility on Plan Way to take a sniff of a suspicious package. Viking indicated there were narcotics in the package and agents seized the box, got a search warrant and found three kilos of heroin with a street value of $360,000 inside. Viking when back on patrol while the other agents went looking for a suspect.

MOTORCYCLE GONE

Officer James Vible took a report of a missing motorcycle on Budlong Avenue on July 19. The owner told Vible he parked his Harley-Davidson Road King at the end of his driveway the night before and noticed it was missing around 6 a.m. He said he was the only person who rode the bike and no one else was given permission to use it. He also said it is paid for and there is no reason for it to be legally removed from his property. He said the bike was unique for its flame-shaped shift bar and custom chrome mirrors and black saddlebags. He said the bike was worth $14,000. No suspects or witnesses.

LARCENIES

Officer Patrick Smith reported a number of rods and reels were taken from a boat at the Ponaug Marina on Arnold’s Neck sometime between July 15 and July 18. The owner showed him where the lower cabin was broken into. He said two Ugly Stick rods with Penn reels, another Ugly Stick with a Shakespeare reel and a Penn rod and reel were missing and they were worth between $600 and $700. No suspects or witnesses. He said no other valuables, like the radio and tools, were taken.

ALWAYS CALL FIRST

A woman who lives on McGraw Court called police to report that someone had scammed her out of $3,000 on July 16. She said she got a call from a man who said he was a lawyer and needed the money to bail her nephew out, who was arrested for DUI. She said she purchased a Green Dot card, and when the “attorney” called back she gave him the number for the card over the phone. She said she then called her nephew and learned that he had not been arrested and was not in any kind of trouble and then she called police. She said the number of the caller was blocked and she did not know where it came from. No suspects.

DUI AND REFUSALS

Officer Nicholas DiNardo reported he was in the parking lot of T.G.I. Friday’s working on reports around 2:55 a.m. when two cars came speeding into the lot, with the second car tailgating the first. The first car stopped beside DiNardo and the second one sped onto Bald Hill Road. The driver of the first told him the other had tailgated him since Coventry and he was afraid he was looking for trouble. DiNardo went after the other car and stopped it near Universal Boulevard. He said the other driver claimed a road rage incident and then said the other guy challenged him to a race. DiNardo said the man appeared to be drunk and he administered a field sobriety test that the driver failed. Kyle Perkins, 18, of 2 Border St., West Warwick, was taken to headquarters, where he refused a breath test. He was charged with DUI, refusal and driving on a suspended license. He was later released to a sober adult.

Officer Nicholas Reay said he was dispatched to the area of Strawberryfield Road around 1:10 a.m. on July 20 for a possible drunk driver. A caller reported a red sedan was swerving all over the road with its lights off. He said he found the car on Main Avenue and pulled it over near 765 Main. He said the driver smelled of alcohol and appeared to be intoxicated and had to put the car in park after she stopped and he asked her several times to do so before she complied. He said she stumbled getting out of the car and he had to grab her arm to keep her from being hit by oncoming traffic. He said he took her aside for a field sobriety test that she failed. She was taken to headquarters, where she registered a .168 and a .171 blood alcohol content. Ashley R. Bettencourt, 25, of 21 Social Dr., Warwick, was charged with DUI and later released to a sober adult.

Officer Keri-Ann Leighton reported stopping a car that was operating erratically on Main Avenue and had almost hit the curb before it was stopped near Kenyon Avenue. She said the driver appeared to be drunk and smelled of alcohol. She said she gave the driver a field sobriety test and he failed it. He was taken to headquarters, where he blew a .166 and a .168 blood alcohol content on the breath test. Gregory May, 29, of 90 Maple Ave., Warwick, was charged with DUI and driving an a suspended license and registration and later released with a summons.

Officer John Curley reported he stopped a car on Lake Shore Drive that was operating erratically and found out he was the subject of a search earlier that day for an outstanding warrant from Superior Court. He said he gave the driver a field sobriety test that he failed. He said he asked him to take a preliminary breath test and he agreed, blowing a .195 blood alcohol content on the portable breath tester. He said he stalled when asked to take a breath test at headquarters and asked if he could wait an hour before he took it. He started saying, “My heart, my heart” and fell off the chair and Rescue was called, but he showed no real distress and refused to be taken to Kent Hospital for treatment. Michael W. Merigan, 52, of 336 Lake Shore Dr., Warwick, was charged with DUI and refusal and later released after arraignment in District Court the next day.

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