Crime & Safety

OMG PD: Leafblower, Meet Sledgehammer

We compile the odd, unusual and 'oh, my gosh' police items from throughout the region.

Leafblower, Meet Sledgehammer

A 40-year-old North Kingstown man was so annoyed by his neighbor’s mid-afternoon leafblower, that he met noise with brute strength. He began by asking the 60-year-old neighbor to turn off her leafblower, and when the woman said she’d be done in a few minutes, he went back home, came back with a sledgehammer and yelled, “I’ll stop it!” before hitting his front stairs with the sledgehammer. As officers placed him in the police cruiser following the arrest, the man allegedly told the officer, “I was only going to hit the blower, not her.”

Panty thief is caught red-handed

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An East Providence man is facing accusations that he filched $120 worth of his neighbor's panties. The woman arrived home to her apartment on Pawtucket Avenue at 1:22 a.m. Thursday and found that her front door was open. She saw an older white male in her living room, they exchanged words and he walked out.

She looked around her apartment and discovered that her underwear drawer was open and she was missing $120 worth of panties. She called 911 and police eventually found 11 pairs of panties on the suspect. The man admitted to police that he took the underwear.

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"Apparently, he gets gratification from the underwear," an East Providence lieutenant said.

‘Please ignore the mess … and the pot’

A 37-year-old Woonsocket man tried to keep officers out of his third-floor apartment by saying it was too messy, but they overlooked the mess to nail him with $900 worth of pot, a grinder, a scale and $1,512 in cash. Officers were originally called to the third-floor apartment after someone reported bottles being thrown from the roof. When the tenant answered the door, he told officers someone had thrown a rock through his attic window and broken it, and denied throwing bottles. Police asked to see the window and the man said he would rather not show them because the area was messy. Once they entered the apartment, officers noticed a small marijuana grow operation with several young plants. 

He told officers he had a prescription for medical marijuana and produced a card from Colorado, saying that he had recently moved and was awaiting his Rhode Island card, which was in the mail. Instead of waiting for the card, police charged him with felony manufacture/delivery/possession of marijuana.

Rest in peace, chivalry

A Barrington man was arrested after allegedly stopping his motorcycle on the Mt. Hope Bridge, throwing a woman off the bike and continuing the ride without her. Witnesses reported seeing the man stop his motorcycle, put the kickstand down, get off the bike and throw the woman to the ground. She sustained only minor injuries; he was charged with domestic, simple assault.

Hitting below the (fan) belt

A Tiverton man was arrested after he allegedly cut the brake lines on the vehicle of someone he had been arguing with. According to , the 19-year-old suspect and another person were arguing over money on Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend. After the fight, the victim saw the suspect running away from his car. He checked the car, found the severed brake line and called police.


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