Newport Police Log: Two Cited for Drinking Outside City Hall

Two Cited for Drinking Outside City Hall

Joseph M. Coite, 52, and Timothy M. Mckinney, 54, both of 15 Meeting Street in Newport, were cited for drinking in public around 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Police were dispatched to the front of City Hall for a report that the two were drinking alcohol on the bus stop bench. Upon arrival, the officer says he observed Coite remove a 2-liter diet coke bottle from his coat and pass it to McKinney, who took a long drink before handing it back to Coite, who did the same.

When the officer approached the two and stated that he knew the bottle wasn't filled with soda, Coite admitted that it contained several different types of beers. The bottle was reportedly 3/4 full.

Both Coite and Mckinney were cited and informed that they would be taken into custody if caught again that day.

Man Charged With Assaulting Girlfriend in Hotel Parking Lot

Joseph Russell Cote, 38, of 15 Meeting Street in Newport, was arrested around 5:15 a.m. Thursday on a charge of domestic simple assault outside the Marriott Hotel on Americas Cup Avenue.

Officers responded to a report that a woman in the hotel's parking lot had been assaulted. The 54-year-old Newport woman told police that Cote, her boyfriend, had punched her in the face during an argument. Officers observed a large lump forming outside her left eye.

The woman pointed to a trailer in the rear of the parking lot as the location of Cote, but officers only discovered his friend inside, who admitted to seeing the assault, but refused to fill out a written statement.

Dispatch informed police that someone resembling Cote was spotted on a camera at the Gateway center. Upon arrival there, police found Cote and handcuffed him. He initially denied assaulting his girlfriend, but then said he did punch her after she punched him first. Cote said his father owned the trailer in the hotel parking lot and that he thought he was allowed to be in it, but police informed him it was hotel property and that he wasn't to return.

The above reports detail arrests made by the Newport Police Department from Wednesday, Aug. 25, through the early morning hours of Thursday, Aug. 26.  Descriptions of all events are based solely on police officer reports provided to Patch.