Newport: Domestic Trouble On The 'End Of The Road To Nowhere'

NEWPORT, RI—Police arrested Roger Stafford, 42, of Newport, on Wednesday (June 13) at 8: 10 p.m. by the train tracks near the K & K Food Mart on Connell Highway. A woman had called 911 at 7:32 p.m. to complain he strangled her and tried to drown her, police said. According to the police narrative, the two had been sleeping in a tent pitched in the grass near the tracks "by the end of the road to nowhere." They'd had an argument over money, she claimed. The woman told police he had just paid his cell phone bill and bought them a pizza when he became upset and a quarrel started. He pushed their tent over, and they started fighting. They ended up by the creek, and he tried to push her head under the water, she said.
According to a witness, after he bought the pizza, Stafford had left to panhandle. The victim called him on his cell phone and asked him to come back. When Stafford arrived at the tent, he found another man was with her. He pushed the tent over, and a fight started. Police said Stafford and the victim's clothes were wet, and other evidence was consistent with a story they had been fighting in the creek.

He was charged with misdemeanor Simple Assault or Battery, police said.