2 charged after alleged drug use in Walmart lot
NORTH SMITHFIELD — Two people were ordered held on narcotics and firearms charges after police investigated a report that they were using intravenous drugs in a car parked outside Walmart.
Police said Elizabeth Bell, 31, of 80 Main St., Lincoln, and Thomas Davis, 53, of 16 Farnum Pike, Smithfield, were arrested the previous afternoon after a Walmart shopper apparently saw them outside the Dowling Village store and called the police.
As she exited the vehicle at the request of responding officers, Bell allegedly placed “a handful” of hypodermic syringes on the dashboard, according to Detective Capt. Tim Lafferty.
At that time, officers also noticed two glassine bags of a white chalky substance – later determined to be crack cocaine – inside the vehicle.
As Bell was placed in handcuffs, officers asked Davis, the driver, to exit the vehicle so they could search it. That’s when police found a loaded .22-caliber revolver on the driver’s side back seat.
As the opioid epidemic has gained momentum, it’s increasingly common for police to find addicts shooting up in cars parked outside retail stores, according to Lafferty.
“We’re seeing it more and more – they’re using the parking lots,” he said. “That’s not unusual, but a .22-caliber pistol, loaded, with nine rounds in the chamber. We haven’t seen that in a while.”
In open court, Davis bragged about having military training in firearms safety, but Lafferty said narcotics and firearms is always a dangerous combination.
“Luckily, everyone is safe,” he said.
Davis and Bell were held overnight at police headquarters for arraignment in Warwick’s Third District Court.
Davis was charged with felony possession of a firearm without a license and remanded to the Adult Correctional Institutions in lieu of $5,000 surety bail.
Bell was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance. She was ordered held for violating the terms of her bail on a prior charge of felony drug possession out of Providence.
She’s due to return to court for a violation hearing on July 24. Davis’s next court date is a pre-arraignment conference on Oct. 10.