Woman Found Walking in Middle of Road

Barrington patrol officers responded to a report of a woman staggering down the middle of Sowams Road with her eyes closed in the wee hours of the morning last Thursday, Oct. 18.

The woman, Donna M. Fantasia, of West Street, Bristol, ultimately was charged with disorderly conduct, obstructing a police officer, resisting arrest and falsely reporting a crime.

The woman was spotted walking south on Sowams Road near Commonwealth Avenue about 2:16 am where two patrol officers, Joshua Melo and Mark Haddigan, located her. She was described by them as “slumped over with her head down and eyes closed,” said the police chief.

The officers said she had a difficult time keeping her eyes open, she stumbled backward and to her right, and she had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, LaCross said, definite signs that she was intoxicated.

The woman carried no ID and said she had just come from a hospital. The officers called for an ambulance to take her to the detox unit at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence.

Before she was transported, however, the woman became combative and began yelling obscenities and fighting with the officers, LaCross said, which led to most of the charges.

At one point, Fantasia also said that she has been assaulted in Warren but didn’t know where. She later recanted that statement, LaCross said.

Barrington police officers eventually brought her back to the station about 6 am, where she was held until taken to 6th District Court on Thursday morning to face the charges. No one was reported injured.