Man claims to be armed in chase with police
Offers to ‘shoot it out’ before being arrested
WOONSOCKET — Police threw the book at a fugitive from Missouri after he repeatedly pretended to be armed and challenged officers to “shoot it out” as his vehicle was chased into the city by Blackstone police officers.
Ryan Marquis Crittenden
Sr., 36, of 515 East School St., was charged with domestic assault by strangulation, domestic assault and battery, violation of a protective order, disorderly conduct, reckless driving, two counts of obstructing police, resisting arrest, and being a fugitive from Missouri on domestic violence charges.
At about 1 a.m., Tuesday, the Woonsocket Police Department was notified that Blackstone officers were chasing a black Nissan bearing New Hampshire plates and that the operator might be armed.
Sgt. Patrick McGourty said he observed Crittenden traveling at speeds of roughly 60 mph on Rathbun Street before he stopped, got out, and approached a marked Blackstone police cruiser as he reached into his waistband.
The officers reversed their cruiser to put some distance between themselves and Crittenden as he yelled, “If you want to shoot it out, we’ll (blanking) shoot it out,” McGourty reported.
Soon after, police tracked Crittenden down to his East School Street apartment, where he was seen sticking his head out of a second-story window, again taunting the police about shooting him.
Breaking through a security door, police located him lying on a bed beside an adult female, at which point he pointed a black object at the police that turned out to be a cell phone. He was taken into custody after “a violent struggle,” one police report said. No weapons were found in the apartment.
Police said the woman in the apartment showed signs of having been injured, with red marks around her neck that she told police Crittenden had caused the previous day.
After some digital research, police learned that Crittenden was wanted by authorities in Missouri on domestic violence charges.
During his arraignment in Sixth District Court on Wednesday, he was ordered held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions pending a fugitive hearing on March 19, according to the judiciary’s web site.