PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The state police have dropped resisting arrest and simple assault charges against former Warwick School Committee chairman and lawyer Christopher E. Friel in exchange for his performing 30 hours of community service, according to the state police.
District Court Judge Madeline Quirk last week accepted a deal in which the state police would dismiss charges if Friel agreed to perform community service, state police Sgt. Thomas Peck said.
Friel, a general practice lawyer with Lynch, Lynch & Friel, and his friend Christopher Macera faced misdemeanor charges after a July 12 incident at the National Hotel on Block Island.
Disorderly conduct and simple assault charges were also dismissed against Macera, 41, of 4 Maplewood Drive, Lincoln, in exchange for community service, Peck said.
The state police responded to a report of a disorderly subject at the hotel overlooking Old Harbor at 11:29 p.m., July 12, Capt. James Manni said. A woman identified Macera as the man who had pushed her, Manni said.
Friel attempted to intervene several times as troopers tried to get identification from Macera, Manni said.
"They asked on several occasions for him to step away. He refused," Manni said. Friel then shoved a trooper with both hands, he said.
Friel would not comply with the troopers' efforts to handcuff and arrest him, so troopers used a Taser to subdue him, Manni said. Both men appeared intoxicated, he said.
Friel, 38, of 113 Merry Mount Drive, Warwick, could not be reached immediately for comment. He served on the Warwick School Committee for eight years, with several years as chairman. He chose not to seek reelection to spend more time with his family, according to news reports.