New West Warwick Engine Collides with Station; Reporter Assa

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What point does this serve on the reporters end???????

New West Warwick Engine Collides with Station; Reporter Assaulted 

BY DANIEL BARBARISI 

Journal Staff Writer 

www.projo.com 

WEST WARWICK -- The Cowesett Avenue fire station was damaged when it was hit by a fire truck last night, according to the police, but Fire Department officers refused to discuss it. 

A reporter who went to the station at about 7:45 p.m., in response to an anonymous tip, saw rubble in front of the rightmost bay in the three-bay building. The bay's overhead door hung down the middle and the brick to the right of the opening had been sheared away and lay scattered on the driveway. 

Initially, both the Police and Fire Departments said they knew nothing of damage. When a reporter called again later, police Capt. John Stephen Boulton said the department had a listing of a "truck versus building" accident at that address but knew nothing more. 

The Fire Department's lieutenant in charge last night -- who refused to give his name -- said he would not comment. 

But more information came out at last night's Town Council meeting, when Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer reported that the Fire Department's newly-acquired engine was pulling out of the station earlier yesterday when a side door of the vehicle opened, damaging both the building and the truck. 

When this reporter went to the station, at 106 Cowesett Ave., at 7:45, he observed two men, one in uniform and one in jean shorts and a grey West Warwick Fire Department T-shirt, looking at the damage. 

After identifying himself as a Providence Journal reporter, he asked what had happened. 

The man in the T-shirt told the uniformed firefighter, "I'll handle this," then put his hand on the reporter's chest and started pushing him towards the street. 

Using repeated expletives, the man ordered the reporter off "city property," threatened to hurt him if he did not leave, and said, "You should die a [expletive] horrible death." He said that the news media ruin people's lives and that all reporters should be killed. 

The reporter asked the man if he was a firefighter, and he responded that he was, before walking back up the driveway with a warning not to enter the grounds of the fire station.

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Hey Seth....what was News12 doing in Rhode Island lol? Just kidding around, but that is pretty messed up! If its true, it sounds like the firefighter over-reacted a tad bit. But we all know how annoying and pushy reporters can be, so who knows. This guy could be totally fabricating the story to make the FD look bad, but maby not, who knows? It was a pretty lame story anyway lol. I mean, i guess theres not much going on there that they had to make a news story about damage to a fire engine and the firehouse. Hell, this kind of crap happens every day, all over the country!