Police Log

The Police Log is a digest of reports filed by the Johnston Police. Chief Richard S. Tamburini or Deputy Chief Daniel Parrillo has reviewed all reports.

LOADED GUN

Patrolman Remy Mendez reports stopping a car on Plainfield Street on Dec. 13 because the driver was not wearing a seat belt – and in the end arresting the man as an Army deserter and for carrying a load handgun.

Mendez said a check revealed that the car was not registered and the driver had a suspended license. He also found an arrest warrant from the U.S. Army for the operator as a deserter.

Mendez said he asked the driver if there was anything of value in the car that he should remove before it was towed, and the man admitted he had a Glock Model 22 .40-caliber handgun with a loaded 15-round clip in his backpack, which was on the passenger seat. Mendez said a check on the gun revealed that it was reported stolen by the Clarksville Police Department in Kentucky. He said there was also a Nikon camera, an Apple laptop and a black face mask with an applied skull face. He said there were also applications from females, possibly for modeling jobs and some photos and video of uncertain content, which were taken for safekeeping.

Mendez said Zackary Gonzalez, 21, of 59 Joslin St. in Providence, was charged with driving on a suspended license and driving and unregistered vehicle; possession of a firearm by a fugitive; no permit; loaded weapon in a vehicle; and possession of a stolen firearm.

Mendez said police put a notice out to surrounding departments asking about ant crimes involving firearms over the last several days and two detectives from Warwick came to interview Gonzalez about an armed robbery that occurred in that city the night before but, after speaking with him, they concluded he was not a person of interest in that case.

Gonzalez was arraigned and assessed $50,000 surety bail on the Johnston charges and later transported to the ACI to await military police.

FAMILIAR FACE

Patrolman Adam Parkinson reports he was on patrol when he saw a familiar face – a woman getting out of a car in the area of the Santander Bank at 1414 Atwood Ave. – around 12:45 p.m. on Dec. 10. He said he approached the woman and told her she had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear for driving on a suspended license. He said she doubted that she had the warrant, but Parkinson ran a check through communications and confirmed that Candice Fusco, 28, of 1149 Hartford Ave., had the warrant out. She was processed at headquarters and then transported to District Court.

ROAD RAGE

Patrolman Derrick Palazzo was one of several officers who responded to a disturbance in the roadway on Starr Street around 11 p.m. on Dec. 12. He said a man there told him he was involved in an accident and a road rage incident earlier but the other driver was not there at the time. He said the witness was completing a statement saying that the missing driver hit his vehicle near Starr and Atwood and then pursued him through the neighborhood to his residence on Water Street. He said earlier than that, the man who chased him was crossing the street when the victim was forced to stop. He said they argued and the man and his friend chased the victim in another vehicle and attempted to run him over with a pickup truck, causing him to fall and cut his face.

Palazzo said then the suspect arrived on the scene with his father. He said the witness jumped and assaulted the father and had to be pulled off by police.

Frank J. Pizzo Jr., 29, of 23 Water St., was charged with disorderly conduct for assaulting the father of Nicolas A. Arena. Nicholas A. Arena was charged with felony assault with a pickup truck, reckless driving and disorderly conduct and released on $10,000 personal recognizance. He was ordered not to drive a vehicle and not to contact Pizzo.

Pizzo was released with a summons.