Police Log: Car Breaks & A Car On Fire

Thursday, Dec. 19

5:49 p.m. – A North Kingstown woman told police her purse was stolen from her car while it was parked outside the Sunshine Child Development Center on Iafrate Way. She was only away from her car for five minutes, she told police, to retrieve something her son had forgotten at the daycare center, leaving her car unlocked and the purse on the front passenger seat. In addition to the purse itself (a Coach bag), the stolen items included her wallet (also Coach), five credit cards, a debit card, two gift cards, her driver's license and health insurance cards. 

6:36 p.m. – A Coventry woman told police her car window was smashed and her purse stolen while the car was parked in the lot behind Salon Aurora on Post Road. In her purse were various prescription medications and $50 cash. Police learned of three other smash-and-grab car robberies in the Kingstown Bowl parking lot, north of Salon Aurora on Post Road. The three victims, members of a bowling league, had parked there around 5:15 p.m. Among the items missing were two laptop computers and a purse containing three credit cards, $100 cash and a driver's license. Footprints in the snow were noticed going from one of the cars to a wooden fence dividing the lot from a trailer park next door. 

11 p.m. – Police arrested Michael J. Liparini, 18, of Fletcher Road, for driving while intoxicated after he allegedly crashed his car into a tree at Essex and Potter roads. By the time police arrived, several passersby where trying to help Liparini out of the car, which was on fire. Liparini was conscious by injured. Police were able to get Liparini out through the front passenger window. Smelling of alcohol, but unable to take a field sobriety test, Liparini was asked if he'd been drinking. He said he drank a bottle of vodka, according to the report. He was taken by NKFD rescue to Rhode Island Hospital. 

Saturday, Dec. 21

1:13 a.m. – Police arrested Kenneth J. Lyons, 33, of Briarbrook Drive, and Joseph Scott Howell, 28, of Fairfield Drive, on Third District Court bench warrants, after they were picked up by police at the Fairfield Drive residence. Lyons was arraigned by a justice of the peace and released on bail. Howell, unable to make bail, was transferred to the Adult Correctional Institutions.