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Rhode Island
People are still freezing to death in RI during ‘Operation No One Dies’
Parking ban enforcement
Providence police enforce a parking ban on streets off Smith Street
A missing Narragansett man died on a downtown Providence street, in freezing temperatures, in late January.
Police had found his body under a blanket near Dunkin’ and The Strand Ballroom & Theatre.
Ryan Boisvert’s death came during the first winter of “Operation No One Dies” – a new effort by the Rhode Island State Council of Churches to provide beds to people who need them when the forecast calls for “real feel” temperatures of 22 degrees or below.
The circumstances underscored a message expressed at the time by the council’s warming center coordinator, Harrison Tuttle: Rhode Island must do a better job protecting vulnerable people from dangerous temperatures.
Then, on Friday, Feb. 13, police announced two more wintertime deaths, both “weather-related with possible health complications,” saying that investigators believe Stanislaw Kozav, 49, and his mother, Irina Kozav, 75, were living in the car where their bodies were found, which was in a lot at Miriam Hospital.
Barriers to finding warm beds for homeless Rhode Islanders
It wasn’t clear, based on the information provided by police, if Boisvert or either one of the two Kozavs had tried and failed to find one of the beds offered by the council or any other bed that might have been available.
But Tuttle, who has some expertise, says he’s often unable to hurdle the barriers he runs into when trying to find beds for people who need them.
Such efforts tend to happen in situations where the 51 beds offered in three Providence churches, through the council’s program, have already been taken, he says.
Tuttle says he believes the right coordination between the right organizations can open up other resources.
He says he doesn’t want to lay blame on any particular entity or person.
He just wants to sound an alarm that finding beds for people, even when the temperatures outside are below freezing, can be extraordinarily difficult. Not everyone meets the criteria for admittance to certain facilities.
He emphasizes that Operation No One Dies has resources, including some transportation, for moving people to places with available beds, including facilities outside Providence.
Some of these volunteer drivers are already patrolling local streets in search of people who need shelter on frigid nights.
A call for collaboration to prevent cold-weather deaths
The availability of the beds provided by the council is a new program, funded through a $200,000 grant from the Executive Office of Housing, and it’s an accomplishment of sorts.
But people are still freezing to death. And more beds are needed.
Tuttle says he just wants more responsiveness from organizations that can help, that can “come together to have a conversation around solutions to prevent freezing deaths in the community.”
“Can we patch up a system here for the remainder of the winter?” he asks.
Tuttle had made an appeal after Boisvert’s death, calling for “immediate, concrete collaboration.”
“No single organization can solve this alone,” he wrote. “It is only through committed partnership and shared accountability that we can build a system strong enough to prevent future deaths.”
On Feb. 10 and Feb. 11, each of the beds provided by Operation No One Dies were taken.
The Kozavs were found at 6:28 p.m. on Feb. 11.
WEST WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — A police situation at a West Warwick hotel briefly closed part of I-95 South on Saturday afternoon.
Dozens of officers responded to the SpringHill Suites by Marriott off Route 2 around 3 p.m. Police cruisers blocked a nearby exit ramp, causing the closure.
According to the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, travel lanes on I-95 South at Exit 24A were blocked for about 45 minutes before reopening.
Our 12 News crew on the scene reports that most of the police presence, including SWAT, cleared the area just after 4 p.m.
An ambulance was later seen leaving, and a car was towed from the back of the hotel. It’s unclear if anyone was taken into custody or where the investigation stands.
12 News has reached out to police for more information and will bring you updates both online and on WPRI-12.
Download the WPRI 12 and Pinpoint Weather 12 apps to get breaking news and weather alerts.
Watch 12 News Now on WPRI.com or with the free WPRI 12+ TV app.
A stray cat that bit a person in Burrillville, Rhode Island, tested positive for rabies, health officials said Saturday.
The person received post-exposure treatment meant to prevent them from contracting rabies, which is fatal once a person begins showing symptoms, according to the Rhode Island Department of Health.
The person was bitten on Wednesday, and the cat was found under a home’s deck on Whippel Road.
Anyone who came into contact with the cat was urged to call the department’s Center for Acute Infectious Disease Epidemiology (at 401-222-2577 on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., or 401-276-8046 at other times) so they can be assessed in case they need treatment.
Cats, dogs and pets being kept as pets are required to be vaccinated against rabies in Rhode Island, but anyone who thinks their pet may have come in contact with the stray cat was urged to contact the Department of Public Health, local animal control and the animal’s veterinarian.
A Rhode Island teenager who was out on bail for a gun charge was charged Friday in connection with the stabbing of three people as hundreds of teens crowded the beach
Willy Medina, 18, was identified as a suspect in the stabbing that broke out at Narragansett Town Beach just after 3 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Narragansett Police Department.
Medina is accused of slashing three beachgoers as the rowdy crowd went into a frenzy, according to video obtained by WJAR.
The three victims were hospitalized with minor stab wounds.
The Rhode Island State Police Violent Fugitive Task Force arrested Medina in his hometown of Pawtucket and charged him on one count of felony assault, Chief Kyle Rekas said.
Medina was arraigned Friday in the 4th District Court and held on a bail violator. He was also ordered to have no contact with minors, WPRI reported.
Officials did not release a motive in the stabbing, as the investigation is ongoing.
Medina was out on bail at the time for a shooting in Pawtucket back in April.
Police allege Medina and another 18-year-old were part of a larger crowd when a disturbance broke out and a gunshot was fired off, striking a parked car, according to WJAR.
Medina was charged with carrying a pistol without a license, firing in a compact area, vandalism and disorderly conduct.
In the aftermath of Tuesday’s stabbings, Narragansett Police arrested two men in the public beach’s parking lot on charges of simple assault, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstruction of justice.
Hours before the stabbing, 20 miles away in Middletown, RI, approximately 1,200 teens overran Second Beach on the Sachuest Bay, the Middletown police said.
Several people between the ages of 17 and 19 were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing an officer.
Ronan Pinkham, an 18-year-old from Massachusetts, was arrested after he allegedly struck a Newport police officer with his car in the parking lot as he attempted to flee.
Pinkman admitted to driving under the influence before he was arrested and charged with felony assault and DUI.
Illegal teen takeovers have plagued popular shopping centers and beaches in several states in the weeks leading up to Memorial Day Weekend.
Several hundred teens and young adults illegally took over a popular boardwalk in Long Branch, New Jersey, on Tuesday, leading to several arrests of out-of-towners.
Police in Delaware arrested four Delaware State University students for leading a booze-fueled takeover of Rehoboth Beach that prompted a heavy police presence in the popular Atlantic town.
Xander Nicholl, 19, Angelin Clauvil, 21, Eric Barnett, 21, and 22-year-old Keyon Scott are all facing charges relating to facilitating a riot, as well as conspiracy in the second degree.
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