A Cranston police officer hurt last week in an accident that occurred while he was participating in a motorcycle escort for a funeral procession in Johnston has been released from the hospital.
Inspector Andrew DaCosta suffered a broken wrist and other broken bones in the incident, which occurred the morning of Nov. 3 on Atwood Avenue.
Chief of Police Col. Michael Winquist said DaCosta was released on Saturday, and is “on the mend.” He said the inspector’s wrist, which was broken in two places, required surgery.
Winquist said DaCosta was part of a complement of police motorcycles providing an escort for the funeral procession at intersections. The chief said one driver “decided he didn’t want to wait” and cut out in front of DaCosta’s motorcycle, causing a collision that threw the inspector from his vehicle.
The driver was cited by Johnston police for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle and failing to yield when entering a road.
Police are investigating an early-morning crash that damaged a utility pole, left multiple vehicles in a dealer’s lot as total losses, and resulted in one man being hospitalized.
According to Deputy Police Chief Daniel Parrillo, the incident occurred at approximately 4:30 a.m. on Nov. 6 when a vehicle heading eastbound on Hartford Avenue struck a utility pole. It then hit multiple cars in the Grieco Honda lot before coming to a rest in the middle of Hartford Avenue.
The operator, identified as a 48-year-old man from Franklin, Mass., sustained multiple fractures but was conscious when responders arrived. He was transported to Rhode Island Hospital, where he was reportedly in stable condition earlier this week. He was the sole occupant of the vehicle.
“The path of the damage extends approximately 250 feet and at this time it appears there are 6-7 parked vehicles on the lot that are a total loss,” Parrillo said through a statement.
Police say speed appears to have been a factor, based on a preliminary examination of the scene. The investigation remains ongoing. Cranston man convicted of killing neighbor’s dog
A Cranston man has been found guilty of killing a neighbor’s dog nearly two years ago.
A Providence County Superior Court jury convicted Nicola Patalano, 60, of one count of malicious killing of an animal last week following a 2-1/2 day trial, the office of Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced in a statement. His sentencing has yet to be scheduled.
According to prosecutors, Patalano beat the 10-pound Yorkie, named Missy, to death on Nov. 21, 2014.
The neighbor, Dolores Antonelli, had been walking the dog near her apartment building on Western Hills Lane when she saw Patalano walking his dog, a terrier weighing roughly 20 pounds.
Missy then ran toward Patalano and his dog, and the animals barked at one another but did not come into physical contact, prosecutors say.
At that point, according to authorities, “Patalano struck Missy multiple times with his wooden cane on her head and body, as Dolores screamed for him to stop.” Missy was rendered “unconscious and unresponsive,” and was pronounced deceased upon arrival at a veterinarian’s office.
Prosecutors say at trial, a neighbor testified to seeing Patalano strike Missy. Patalano is also said to have admitted to striking the dog with the intent to kill during interviews with Cranston Police Officer Wayne Russell and Animal Control Officer Patricia Maxwell.
“I hit the dog to kill it,” he is said to have told the officers.
“Recognizing that the abuse of an animal is often symptomatic of violence in individuals, my office has successfully advocated for stiffer sentences for those who maliciously injure or kill animals, such as Missy,” Kilmartin said in a release.
A Warwick resident has pleaded guilty to child pornography charges, federal authorities announced last week.
Sami-Joe Daou, 27, entered the plea on Nov. 3 in U.S. District Court. He faced one count of possession of visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexual explicit conduct and one count of distribution of visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexual explicit conduct.
He faces between five and 20 years in prison, with sentencing scheduled for Feb. 24. He additionally faces a lifetime of supervised release following his prison term.
According to the office of U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha, a joint investigation by federal, state, and local authorities – including Cranston police – found Daou stored sexually explicit images involving a pre-teen girl on his computer in March 2015, and shared at lease one of the images via Facebook.
Prosecutors say in July 2015, Daou additionally “stored on his computer three sexually explicit video files depicting sexual contact he had with a 17-year-old female.”
In a social media message, the Cranston Police Department shared the U.S. Attorney’s release and applauded the work of Sgt. Lori Sweeney and Detective Michael Iacone on the case. Both are members of the department’s Special Victims Unit.
Two men police say were caught attempting to break into a Cranston home and then led officers on a brief foot and vehicle pursuit have been charged.
Romer Pena-Perez, 33, and Orlando Pena-Baez, 27, both of Providence, are each charged with felony counts of attempted breaking and entering, conspiracy, and possession of burglary tools. Pena-Baez is additionally charged with resisting arrest and reckless driving/eluding a police officer.
According to police, shortly 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 2, a witness reported a man was attempting to pry open a window with what looked like a screwdriver at a home on Tweed Street. The witness is said to have provided an “excellent description” of the suspect, and detectives and uniformed officers in the area responded.
The suspect, identified later as Pena-Perez, is said to have spotted police and fled on foot to a black 2007 Suzuki SUV driven by a second suspect, later identified as Pena-Baez.
Officers pursued the vehicle into the town of Johnston, where they were able to stop the suspects on Plainfield Street. Pena-Baez is said to have initially attempted to flee, but both men were successfully apprehended.
“The Cranston Police commend the witness for acting so quickly and providing such an accurate description along with the events unfolding while officers responded,” Maj. Todd Patalano said through a statement. “This is a classic example of how successful the police can be when an alert community report suspicious activity promptly. We continue to encourage the public to call if something doesn’t look right. This case would not have been so successful if it weren’t for this alert witness.”
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