Spat Over Dogs Ends in One Summons

NEWPORT, RI — It was a tale of two different stories that started when a Newport woman attempted to take her two Dobermans out for a walk.

Another tenant in her building objected to the dogs, which he claims are noisy, and a quarrel followed. He accused the woman of spitting at him. She said she did spit at him, but told police he slapped her in the face.

He initially told police he slapped her in self defense.

Police went over his story to clarify if he struck her when either her dogs or she were advancing on him, and he admitted they were not advancing when he hit her.

However, both told police they did not want to press charges, and police advised them to steer clear of each other.

But later, Monday afternoon, he went to the police station, insisted he did want to press charges and added he believed there had been a misunderstanding if police thought he had said differently. He went on to add more accusations about her conduct.

He also denied he slapped her at all.

Police decided to charge her with simple assault and battery because she had admitted spitting at him. Donna Jo Corse, 56, of Newport, was given a summons to appear in court, police said.