Cops: Two tried to swipe Pats gear from ‘Fest
WOONSOCKET – Police say two Massachusetts men were captured after a foot chase early Monday in the Autumnfest grounds and later charged with stealing New England Patriotsbranded clothing from a festival vendor.
Anthony James Mirabile, 20, of Plainville, and Nicholas Kyle Davis, 21, of North Attleboro, were arrested on charges of misdemeanor larceny, obstructing and resisting arrest shortly after midnight.
Police said both men tried to escape by scaling a chain link fence and one, Davis, suffered a laceration on his arm as a result. He was transported to Landmark Medical Center, where doctors closed a wound on his forearm with 20 stitches before he was released to police custody several hours later.
Officers Justin Mowry and Christopher M. Bouvier were patrolling World War II Veterans Park after normal festival hours at the time of the arrests. The park was closed and no one was supposed to be on the premises except for authorized personnel.
They said they heard a security guard yelling for help and immediately spotted two male figures running toward a perimeter fence. Mirabile was already halfway up the fence when the officers caught up to him, but his shorts got snagged along the top of the jagged chainlink enclosure.
Police said he admitted stealing two hats worth about $10 each.
“I’m an idiot,” police quoted Mirabile as saying when they pulled him off the fence. “I stole the hats, I’m an idiot.”
Mowry said he pulled Davis off the fence and put him in handcuffs. The officer said he saw blood on his hands before he realized where it was coming from – a gash three inches long on Davis’s forearm.
The security guard later told police that thieves had broken into several vendor tents before the grounds were closed for the evening. The security guard said he got a good look at the suspects in the tent operated by a vendor selling Patriots gear near Social Street.
He confronted the two men, who ran off. He was still trying to corner the suspects when Officers Mowry and Bouvier heard him yelling for help.
When officers located the sales hut allegedly targeted by Mirabile and Davis, they observed damage to a protective tarp coving the goods and apparel strewn about the dirt outside the area.
Police did not identify the affected vendor, but they said the individual was notified the following day.