Police : Plymouth man trashes Amesbury hotel room, jail cell
Jun. 16—AMESBURY — A Plymouth man who police say trashed a local hotel room and then damaged an Amesbury police jail cell in April agreed to pay restitution to the city as part of s plea deal Tuesday in Newburyport District Court.
Joseph Williams, 28, was charged on April 12 with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, malicious destruction of property more than $1,200 and three counts of malicious destruction of property less than $1,200. During Williams' appearance in court, the most serious malicious destruction charge was reduced to less than $1,200, and two of the lesser malicious destruction of property charges were dismissed.
The remaining charges were continued without a finding for six months. During that time, Williams must pay the city $170 in restitution and stay out of trouble with the law. Fairfield Inn officials charged Williams for the extensive damage to one of its hotel rooms, according to Essex County prosecutor. Shailagh Kennedy.
Williams' attorney told Judge William Swan that his client paid for the damage to the hotel room.
Williams was drunk, according to Amesbury police Officer Teagan Davis and others who responded to the Clarks Road hotel about 8:50 that night. They found Williams sitting in a lobby chair looking very inebriated.
When he saw Davis, he told the officer to (expletive) herself and said she should leave. Another person in the lobby told Davis that Williams was an electrician working on a project in town and was staying at the hotel.
Amesbury medics arrived and tried to examine Williams, but he refused to be treated. The general manager told police he would give Williams one more chance to stay at the hotel before kicking him out.
As Williams was being escorted to his room by a friend, Williams made a series of obscene gestures toward the female officer and made more abusive statements directed at her.
Davis returned to her cruiser and waited a few minutes to make sure there were no more incidents. During that time, the friend who brought Williams to his room approached Davis' cruiser and apologized again for Williams' behavior, according to Davis' report.
"As he was speaking to me I looked up and saw Joseph removing the screen from the fourth floor window. He removed the screen entirely and was holding it with the window wide open as if he was going to throw it out," Davis wrote in her report.
Davis got out of her cruiser and radioed for assistance. Officers Kyle Arseneau and Travis Tremblay, and Sgt. Barry Coker responded to her call and met her inside the hotel lobby.
Police entered the room using a hotel key and saw Williams against a wall yelling incoherently. It took three officers to handcuff a flailing Williams and escort him out of the room.
Davis looked into the room and noticed several areas had been damaged, including the window and the door. A large section of wood had also been ripped off from a wall.
During the ride to the police station, Williams continued thrashing about kicking and swearing at Davis. At the station, Wiliams refused to go through the booking process.
Willams became so uncooperative that officers had to take him to the ground to search him. Once placed in a cell, Williams blocked up the toilet with paper and flooded his cell.
"The water caused an unknown electrical issue and electricity to the cell block, including the overhead lights went out for a brief time," Davis wrote in her report.
Dave Rogers is a reporter with the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.
Dave Rogers is a reporter with the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.
