Four DUI Arrests for Portsmouth Police Last Week

Police charged Tina Louise Lewis, 44, of 110 Third St., Warren, with driving under the influence May 11 after she reportedly drove into the curb on West Main Road and the responding officers detected she had been drinking.

Police said Lewis failed a field sobriety test and found several empty alcohol bottles in her car.

Lewis was also charged with refusing a chemical test.

She was released on $1,000 personal recognizance.

Police charged Charlene Wendy Dacosta, 48, of 56 St. Jospeh St., Fall River, with driving under the influence May 10 after she was stopped for speeding on East Main Road shortly after midnight.

Police said Dacosta was driving 41 mph in a 25 mph zone and the pursuing officer watched her cross the double yellow line.

Once stopped, Dacosta’s car reportedly began rolling backwards, eventually banging into the Portsmouth police cruiser at about 5 mph. The officer was uninjured.

Police said Dacosta failed a field sobriety at the scene and was taken into custody without incident.

The cruiser suffered no damage because Dacosta’s Mazda 3 struck only the push bar mounted on the front end.

On May 11 at around 5:20 p.m., police charged Stephen Gerard Hayes, 60, of 100 Almeida Terrace, Portsmouth, with driving under the influence after they responded to the area near the Cumberland Farms on East Main Road for a report of a possibly intoxicated driver.

Police said they caught up with Hayes in his heavily-damaged Ford Mustang on East Main Road near Stubtoe Lane and watched him drive well under the posted 35 mph speed limit. He also nearly struck the curb and overcorrected, crossing the white lane dividers.

Police pulled Hayes over on Marvel Road and he reportedly told police the damage was from an accident on May 9.

Police said though Hayes didn’t smell like alcohol, they believed he was under the influence and he reportedly failed a field sobriety test.

He was taken into custody without incident and a Middletown police officer certified in drug recognition responded to Portsmouth police headquarters, where he stated he believed Hayes was under the influence of a substance other than alcohol and was unfit to drive, according to a police report.

Hayes was released on personal recognizance a few hours later.

Police charged Ashley Lynn Printer, 26, of Dayville, Conn., with driving under the influence and refusing a chemical test May 11 after she was stopped for speeding on West Main Road near Raytheon.

Police said Printer was driving 52 mph in a 35 mph zone and was observed drifting over the double yellow line.

Once stopped, police found Printer and a passenger identified by police as Robert Varrica, 35, of Chepachet, who had been charged with driving with a suspended license just two hours earlier by Portsmouth Police.

Varrica immediately explained that he was just released from his arrest and Printer picked him up from the impound lot at Mello’s.

Printer was the passenger during Varrica’s arrest because she was too drunk to drive, he explained.

Police said Printer smelled like alcohol and she later field a sobriety test. They also found a bottle of Captian Morgan in the car.

Printer, while en route to police headquarters, reportedly told police she did a “very bad thing” and later yelled loudly from the back seat, according to a police report.

Varrica was driven back to Portsmouth police headquarters by another officer.