Police make bust after bike chase
WOONSOCKET – A city man was ordered held at the state prison Tuesday on a weapons-related probation violation after police arrested him on narcotics and other charges following an attempt to elude officers on a bicycle and hide in a clothing store on Main Street, they said.
Issac Roman, 26, of 84 Chester St., was wanted for violating a court order to keep away from his girlfriend a day earlier when police spotted him near Blackstone and Arnold streets about 12:20 p.m.
Officer Justin Mowry, who was working a private detail, tried to stop Roman, but he took off on a bicycle, according to police reports. Other officers in the area picked up the trail at Fountain and Ascension streets.
Patrolman Michael Martinsen reported that Roman ditched the bicycle at the foot of Ascension Street and ran into a corner clothing store at 116 Main St. Martinsen and several other police officers went inside and spotted Roman in the back of the store.
“He quickly turned around, made a hand motion, as if he was throwing something, when he was ordered to the ground,” Martinsen reported.
As officers were closing in, they say, Roman tossed away a small glassine baggie that contained crack cocaine.
Roman was taken into custody on one count each of possession of a controlled substance and obstructing police. In addition, he faces a felony count of violating a no-contact order following the alleged confrontation with his ex-girlfriend.
She gave police a statement indicating that she was leaving her apartment at 84 Chester St. Monday morning when she discovered Roman standing in the hallway, in front of her apartment door. After she left the apartment to keep an appointment, she saw Roman walk inside.
During a preliminary appearance in Sixth District Court, a judge set bail for Roman on the charges of violating the no-contact order and cocaine possession. But he was held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions for violating his probation on an October 2015 convction for possession of a firearm without a permit. He was sentenced to five years in that case, with two to serve and three suspended, with probation.
He has a lengthy criminal record that includes multiple incarcerations for convictions that also include felony domestic assault and shoplifting. In 2012, he was charged with escaping from the custody of the ACI, according to prison records.