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Crime & Safety

Police Log: Spit Stain Puts Him In Hot Water

The following arrest information was supplied by the Woonsocket Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction.


A city man who allegedly spit from his car window has either very good aim or very bad luck.

Talubeh Njie, 39, of 59 Roberts St., faces a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery. He was arrested Sunday after a woman told police he launched a gob of goo that found its way onto her clothing.

The investigation began when the woman arrived at the police station late Sunday afternoon and showed an officer a stain on the sweatshirt she wore.  "There was a wet spot that was consistent with a spit mark," a police report states. The officer took photographs as evidence.

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The woman told police she was stopped on Cumberland Street at the intersection with the Cass Avenue when a driver in a Toyota Highlander pulled up in the left-turn lane beside her. She recognized the car because the driver had allegedly cut her off in traffic just moments earlier. The driver, she said "appeared to be mad." According to her story, he leaned toward his open window, spit, and then drove off.

The woman wrote down his plate number, and then headed to the police station, where she filed a complaint. Officers then contacted Njie, and told him to come to the station. The woman was watching through the window at the traffic division counter when a man with dreadlocks entered the lobby. She identified him as the driver with overactive salivary glands.

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An officer then invited Njie to sit down in an interview room, where they asked about the alleged traffic altercation. He first denied driving a Toyota Highlander near the intersection, but later acknowledged he'd been there. He told police he'd had a verbal argument with the woman, but said there was no spitting.

Njie was charged and released on bail. He also faces a charge of driving without a license.

City man stuck with the short straw

Despite his shoulder tattoo that depicts praying hands, illandro Dacosta may have felt like a man without a prayer when police stopped his car on East School Street on Sunday afternoon.

He faces a charge of possession of a controlled substance, after officers allegedly found a jar in his pockets that contained pills and a short straw they thought looked suspicious.

Dacosta, 24, of 628 East School St., caught the attention of an officer after he made a sharp turn onto East School Street, according to police reports. The officer signaled for him to stop, and called a second police unit to the scene. When one of the officers allegedly saw a prescription bottle inside the car, they told Dacosta to step out and cuffed him.

The pill jar label listed someone else's name, prompting officers to search his clothes as well. They found three more pill jars in his pockets. Two were empty, but two contained a number of pills. In one jar an officer also discovered a short straw on which he could see "a white powdery residue."

They arrested Dacosta and brought him to the police station. Once there, an officer called a CVS pharmacist and described two types of pills found in the bottles. A hundred were identified as Tramadol, a painkiller not classified as a controlled substance. Some, however, were identified as oxycodone, a narcotic drug available by prescription only.

Officers seized all the bottles and pills as evidence, as well as the straw. In addition to charging Dacosta with drug possession, they also slapped him with a citation for failure to yield the right of way.

A wandering soul

John Charles McAvin Jr., 45, of Spring Lake Road, Burrillville, faces charges of resisting arrest and breaking and entering a dwelling while the resident was home.

After visiting one of the city's neighborhood taverns Saturday afternoon, McAvin allegedly found himself standing in a stranger's Manville Road home. "I'm not supposed to be here, I'll leave," he told the homeowner, who found him in the hallway.

The woman called the police station, and when officers arrived McAvin struggled with them, according to reports. One of the officers shouted a warning, and then fired a Taser. McAvin fell to the ground. Officers then placed him in handcuffs and transported him to the police station.

Other arrests

Michael Gerald Tetreault, 48, of 56 Libbeus St., faces a charge of disorderly conduct. Police arrested him Saturday at 1:09 a.m. near Donut Express on Front Street.

Police arrested Michael Torres, 22, of 282 Front St., on a warrant. The arrest occurred Saturday at 1:51 a.m. on Diamond Hill Road.

Xavier Medina, 26, of 191 Grove St., faces charges of vandalism, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and possession of marijuana. Police arrested him Saturday at 2:18 a.m. on Fairmount Street.

Jonathan P. Tarmey, 42, of 300 Knight St., faces a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol. Police arrested him Sunday at 12:27 a.m. on Transit Street.

Judith Ann Fontaine, 52, of 348 Harris Ave., faces charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and refusing to submit to a chemical test. Police arrested her Sunday at 1:17 a.m. on High Street.

Brenda Lee Ortiz, 38, of 685 Wood Ave., faces charges of obstructing an officer and resisting arrest. Police arrested her Sunday at 1:34 a.m. at her home.

A 14-year-old boy faces charges of possession of marijuana and possession of a weapon other than a firearm. Police arrested him Sunday at 8:12 p.m. on Arnold Street.

Jason Patrick Waldron, 32, of 78 Hill St., faces a charge of disorderly conduct. Police arrested him Sunday at 11:02 p.m. at his home after responding to reports of a domestic disturbance.

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