OMG PD: Under Duress

Check out these odd or unusual reports from police officers around the state.

By Erin Tiernan, South Kingstown Patch

Woman, charged with DUI, signs documents "Under Duress"

An alleged drunk driving North Kingstown woman refused to pull over for police this week. She was first clocked driving 83 mph in a 55 mph zone on Route 4 but reportedly refused to stop when police activated their sirens, leading officers to her home instead. 

When officers began to place her under arrest, the woman reportedly asked for a lieutenant (who she requested by name). When police told her that he was off-duty, she allegedly stated she was “going to call him.” 

At headquarters, she refused to submit to a breathalyzer test. While signing her citations and documents, she allegedly wrote “under duress” every time she signed her name. She was then charged with DUI, among other charges.

Woman, attempting to bail out friend charged with DUI, charged with DUI

Police charged a South Kingstown woman with DUI when they had to respond to a D'Angelos sandwich shop minutes after she left the station to bail out her friend, who was also arrested on similar charges hours earlier. When police said her friend still had not been processed, the woman left the station with her 13-year-old daughter to pick up her 4-year-old daughter at a nearby D'Angelos sandwich shop. 

Police received two 911 calls minutes later reporting a car swerving all over the road heading to D'Angelos. Police caught up with the woman in her parked car at D'Angelos and reported she smelled of alcohol. She was charged with DUI. Her friend in booking had allegedly crashed her 2010 Mini Cooper into a median earlier that day. Paramedics on scene there reportedly found three empty liquor bottles before police arrived. Both women reportedly admitted to drinking beers that day at a local establishment, Rhody Joe's.

Woman, charged with DUI: "I'm going to the beach to sleep"

Narragansett police charged a woman with DUI after they pulled her over for speeding and driving erratically around 2 a.m. After saying she couldn't find her license, when police said they could see it in her open wallet, she allegedly told them, “Oh sorry, it’s been a crazy night.” 

When police asked her about this, she told them, “I just left my house and now I’m going to the beach to sleep.” Police noted she smelled of alcohol. The woman reportedly failed field sobriety tests. Police said during the final test, the one leg stand, she told them, “I’m done, just make it easy and take me in.”

Driver trying to put car into park puts it into cruiser

A woman was reportedly extremely drunk while trying to leave Kon Asian Bistro in East Greenwich recently. Police found the woman in the parking lot as she was trying to leave in her car and told her to stop. She was unable to put the car into park. Instead, she put it in reverse. After a third attempt, her car backed into the front right bumper of a police cruiser, and her car came to a stop. She later failed a field sobriety test and breath tests back at the station showed blood alcohol levels of .202 percent and .196 percent.

Take my wife, please

A Johnston woman faces charges of committing a hit-and-run and driving without a license after the car she was driving reportedly hit another car from behind. When an officer went to her apartment, he heard a man yelling from inside; when the officer knocked on the door, the man answered and told the cop, "Come in and take her. She took my car and hit another car on Putnam Ave." The husband told police he was sleeping when his wife took the car. At her Feb. 15 arraignment, she was hit with more than $1,000 in court costs and fines.