All 3 Suspects In Middle Road Break Now In Custody

All three suspects – one woman, two men – in a Friday morning break in at 1895 Middle Road are now in custody, police confirm. The arrests follow a manhunt that involved police from several communities and stretched west of Tillinghast Road between Middle and Frenchtown roads.

One suspect was taken by EG Rescue to Kent Hospital with possible hypothermia – "wet and cold," according to Police Chief Tom Coyle.

According to East Greenwich Police, the three suspects were surprised when a resident of the Middle House house returned. The house sits back on the lot, separated from the street by a pond.

For some residents of area, it was a scary morning, with police telling them to stay in their homes and keep their doors locked.

Mike Battey, who lives on Arbor Way in the High Hawk neighborhood, heard about the break in while he was working in his front yard.

“A plain-clothes cop had come by about a half hour ago just warning people of the home invasion in the rough neighborhood and if we saw anybody to let them know,” Battey said.

The news prompted him to tell his wife, who was just leaving, to be sure to lock the door that leads from their garage to the house. The garage door was open while Battey worked outside.

Battey continued working in the yard but turned around at one point to see a man standing in his garage.

“I called 911 as I was telling him to get out of the garage,” said Battey, who described the man as white, about 30 years old, wearing a green shirt and with a “brush cut.”

The man said he needed a taxi. “I told him to sit on the lawn and I’d call a taxi,” he said.

“He started walking down the driveway and then he trotted across the street,” Battey said of the suspect. “The crazy part is, if I hadn’t told [my wife] and she hadn’t locked the door, that guy could have snuck in our house.”

He said his son was upstairs asleep at the time.

Police from West Warwick, West Greenwich, Coventry, North Kingstown, Warwick and State Police responded to the break in.