City man charged with stabbing girlfriend’s dad
PAWTUCKET – A city man accused of stabbing another in a quiet Darlington community was arrested early Tuesday afternoon.
Police charged Richard M. Barnes, 34, of 22 Bloomingdale Ave. (second floor), with domestic violence/assault with intent to commit a specified crime, domestic violence/ simple assault and/or battery and assault and/or battery of an officer, all felonies.
They also leveled misdemeanor counts of eluding law enforcement officers with a motor vehicle in a high-speed pursuit and domestic violence/disorderly conduct.
His victims included a 50-year-old man, who suffered a serious laceration; and a 24-year-oldd man and 27-year-old woman who sustained minor injuries.
It all started at 11:28 a.m., Tuesday, when dispatchers requested Patrolman Alexander Campbell respond to an Evergreen Street house for a reported stabbing. Upon arrival, he was advised the suspect had fled in a gray Kia Optima. The officer also saw an adult male sitting on the front steps of his home yelling, “I just got stabbed!”
The man lifted his sweatshirt, and Campbell observed a large, open wound to his chest. Multiple people at the scene told him that Barnes had indeed stabbed the victim, then jumped in the Kia and traveled east on Evergreen Street.
Pawtucket Rescue units immediately arrived and took the victim, who was still conscious and alert, to Rhode Island Hospital for further treatment.
In the interim, the female victim told the officer that she and Barnes, her live-in boyfriend, had got into a physical altercation in the driveway of the residence earlier, and that her father had intervened when he witnessed the fight.
“Richard then stabbed the man with a knife during the altercation, then left the scene in the Kia with the weapon still on him,” Campbell wrote in his report. “Detectives Michael Dolan and Gregory Martin arrived on scene to investigate.”
After hearing the stabbing report on the radio and updates on the suspect’s possible whereabouts, Patrolman Thomas Wycislak took a fixed traffic post on Lonsdale Avenue near the I-95 South onramp. At 11:47 a.m., Patrolman Zackery Newman had broadcast he had just observed the Kia traveling on Mineral Spring Avenue.
“Officer Newman stated that he attempted to stop the Kia, which fled from him,” Wycislak reported. “In the act of fleeing, he relayed that he was struck in the leg by the vehicle. Moments later, I observed the vehicle traveling south on Lonsdale Avenue, then merge onto Route 95 South. I activated my emergency lights and sirens in an attempt to stop the vehicle.”
Barnes wouldn’t stop the vehicle, instead crossing lanes of traffic from the far left to far right lanes to elude the officer.
“While approaching the Branch Avenue exit, the vehicle began to slow down, and the operator put both of his hands outside the driver’s side window and gestured he was giving up,” Wycislak wrote. “With both of us stopped, I drew my department-issued firearm and ordered the operator out of the vehicle. The operator was identified as Richard Barnes.
“Barnes began to exit with both of his hands up; while stepping out, I observed a gray, spring-loaded knife fall from his lap onto the pavement,” he added. “Barnes was ordered to turn away from me and place his hands on the vehicle. While complying with my orders, Barnes repeatedly stated, ‘Please don’t hurt me. I had to do it; he’s a real tough man.’”
Further searches of the vehicle revealed another small knife in a sheath and a bottle containing yellow pills.
Officers then transported Barnes back to headquarters for processing.