Police Log: RIPTA Driver Charged for Road Rage Incident, DUI, Man with No Pants

DUI
Police charged Carl C. Russell, 54, of 51 Dudley Ave., Newport, with driving under the influence Aug. 26 at 6:21 p.m.

Police said Russell rear ended another car on Miantonomi Avenue while asleep behind the wheel.

Police said they arrived at the scene to find Russell slouched in the driver’s seat.

He later failed a field sobriety test and was taken into custody without incident.

WARRANTS
Police charged David A. Traynum, 35, of 1225 Aquidneck Ave., Middletown, with three warrants Aug. 24 at 6:50 p.m.

DISORDERLY
Police charged Kevin Joshua Johnson, 24, of Fruitland, Md., with disorderly conduct Aug. 24 at 5:53 p.m.

Police said Johnson was seen by an officer on a private detail has he urinated in the parking lot at the Atlantic Beach Club.

Johnson reportedly tried to cover up the evidence by kicking sand on it and then took off running when he saw the officer.

Police were able to catch up with him a few moments later and taken into custody without incident.

Police charged Larry H. Bettencourt, 50, of 12 Park Drive, Middletown, with disorderly conduct Aug. 23 at 3:50 a.m. after he was seen walking along Johnny Cake Hill Road with his genitals exposed.

Police said Bettencourt was wearing just a short sleeve button down shirt.

Bettencourt was heavily intoxicated, police said, and told police that he started drinking at noon the day before and had no idea where his pants or shoes were.

He was taken into custody without incident and later released with a Sept. 30 Municipal Court summons.

RIPTA DRIVER CHARGED
A Rhode Island Public Transit Authority bus driver was charged with vandalism and disorderly conduct after he allegedly pounded on the roof of a woman’s car during a road rage incident on East Main Road in Middletown Aug. 22.

Police said the victim called police at around 7 p.m. and said she was sitting in her car at a red light when the bus driver, identified as Edward Howell, 57, of 32 John Duggan Road, Tiverton, got off the bus and began pounding on the roof of her car.

Howell was apparently upset when the victim used her phone while in her car, prompting him to scream through his window “it’s idiots like you who put my nephew in the hospital” before he got out of the bus.

The bus was stopped a short time later by Newport police further along the route and Howell admitted to hitting the woman’s car, telling police he lost his temper and made a mistake.

Howell was taken into custody without incident and later released with a a Sept. 5 District Court summons.