Overall, the extended Fourth of July weekend that was preceded by a severe heat wave on the mainland went relatively smoothly, but that didn’t mean the police weren’t presented with some challenges. As Police Chief Paul Deane said in a statement put out on social media, “There was an evening incident on the ferry that led to an arrest as well as some poor decision making downtown (four arrests) so we had some overnight visitors at the NSPD who will have to address the consequences of their bad choices in court on the mainland.”
The real story of the week, though, started the day before in the early hours of Friday, July 3 when an individual was seen checking car door handles at the Great Salt Pond Settlement at approximately 1 a.m. to see if any of them were open. (Public Service Announcement from the chief: Don’t leave your keys in the car.)
Deane told The Block Island Times that the car thief ended up on West Side Road where he passed an officer going in the opposite direction. The car was traveling at an extremely high speed, as high as 80 miles per hour, Deane estimates. By the time the officer had turned around to follow, the thief had crashed into a stone wall and disappeared. “He was gone,” said Deane.
When the car hit the stone wall, rocks were catapulted across the front yard, with one knocking a hole in the foundation of an island couple’s home. (GoFundMe campaigns have been started to help both the owners of the damaged house and the stolen, totaled car.)
According to Deane, police searched the area for a couple of hours before giving up for the night. Early the next morning, they resumed their search of the neighborhood, setting up a perimeter, checking garages and sheds, and talking to possible witnesses. They deployed the fire department’s drone that has a thermal imaging feature, although Deane said that doesn’t work as well in the summer heat as it does in winter.
During the search, the fugitive suddenly ran through the yard of a neighbor who happened to be on his porch, and filmed the whole thing as the bleeding, shirtless young man ran down his driveway, across the yard and into the bushes. At the end, he can be seen hopping through the brush as he disappears from view.
The police already knew who the individual was as he had left his cellphone in the crashed car, but they didn’t know where he was staying on the island, so they left him to stew in the bushes.
Meanwhile, the video of the man streaking across the yard into the brush quickly spread over island social media pages, to the great amusement of many who knew the guy wouldn’t get away with not being found for long. He was dubbed “The Fugitive” and became the subject of several memes.
Although he didn’t have his phone, the thief did have his wallet with some cash and credit cards and went shopping for a new outfit at Champlin’s Marina.
The next day, a bit before the start of the Fourth of July Parade, someone called the police department reporting an individual walking down the street “looking suspicious.” Officer Phil Trudell responded and with the assistance of Officer Doug Borden and another officer, the man, who was rather cut up and had a badly gashed and swollen jaw, was arrested.
The 28-year-old man from East Marion, N.Y. was held at the police station for a couple of hours before being taken to the Block Island Health Center for evaluation.
He was then taken to South County Hospital where he was arraigned by a Justice of the Peace on charges of, among other things, possession of a stolen vehicle, reckless driving, and eluding police officers.
A hot Saturday at the beach
In recent years, teenagers have flocked to the island without their parents to go drink on the beach. Whether it was the warnings of the police in both traditional and social media or the weather, fewer arrived this year and, for the most part, behaved themselves.
“The beach was good,” Deane told The Times, and that after last year, they asked themselves, “how can we do something different?” As a result, most of the police were shifted from parade duty to the beach so they would be present before the teens even arrived. In previous years, the chief said, police didn’t arrive until after the parade, by which time the teens had already been drinking in the hot sun for a couple of hours. This year they were on the beach at 9 a.m. with five New Shoreham officers and seven Rhode Island State Police.
In separate incidents, two 19-year-olds, one from Cranston, R.I. and one from Johnston, R.I., were arrested at the beach for “possession of alcohol before 21st birthday.”
There was also one rescue call for intoxication at the beach: A 21-year-old who, said Deane, “had too much sun, too many beers.”
“It was hot on the beach,” said Deane, adding that the kids weren’t into staying all day long and started leaving early. The 3 p.m. ferry was so full it left 10 minutes early, he said.
At just before 4 p.m., the police went back down to the beach with an ATV and lots of trash bags to hand out to the visitors who then picked up the trash “with a little supervision.” This year, 940 pounds were picked up as opposed to over 1,400 the year before.
There was an incident on the beach behind the Blue Dory Inn that came into dispatch as a “verbal altercation.” There were four people involved and when officers arrived, “one person went on his way as told,” said Deane with the remaining three continuing to yell at each other.
One of those, a 29 or 30-year-old, was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. “In the middle of that, his younger brother grabbed his brother and then got arrested for obstruction.” Both brothers were from Narragansett.
The girlfriend of one, a 22-year-old, also from Narragansett, was arrested for disorderly conduct. The three were “processed” and taken to the 7:30 p.m. ferry back to the mainland.
Ferry fight
Just 10 minutes later, the police were called back to the ferry. A fight had broken out onboard and the ship was turning around and returning to Old Harbor. After being identified by the ferry crew, 30-year-old Carlin Durfee, who was yelling and spitting blood, was placed under arrest for disorderly conduct for what started as “verbal aggression” that turned physical.
Durfee was taken to the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institutions by state police officers where he remained as a probation violator until appearing in court on Tuesday morning. (The courts were closed on Monday because of the Fourth of July occurring on a Saturday.)
Durfee pleaded no contest to the charge of disorderly conduct and was sentenced to six months in jail with 90 days to serve, according to Deane.
A stormy Saturday night
As darkness settled on the island Saturday night, unsanctioned fireworks were launched with a large display somewhere “up the Neck,” much to the delight of the boaters in the Great Salt Pond who signaled their approval with their horns. But that show was interupted by Mother Nature who put on her own show with lightning and downpours.
The police didn’t get much of a chance to rest, though. They were called to Captain Nick’s at 12:30 a.m. for an altercation that resulted when one patron decided to do pull-ups on a sprinkler pipe. When he was walked out by Captain Nick’s owner Chris Willi, he became belligerent.
Outside the bar, the perpetrator’s friends tried to get in between the responding police and the suspect, resulting in “multiple fights,” and the arrests of three males, two by the New Shoreham Police Department and one by the Rhode Island State Police.
One male, age 25, from Connecticut, was charged with simple assault, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. The other two, both 23 and from Connecticut, were charged with disorderly conduct and resisting police. All three were to be arraigned on Friday morning, July 10, in Fourth District Court.