Woman charged with ramming police vehicles in Narragansett

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. (WPRI) — An Attleboro woman is facing a felony charge after police said she intentionally rammed into multiple vehicles in Narragansett Tuesday morning, according to R.I. Department of Environmental Management (DEM) spokesperson Mike Healey.

Court documents reveal that Elise Collins, 57, has been charged with assaulting a police officer. Healey said she was arraigned from her bed at South County Hospital, where she was brought for treatment and evaluation following the incident.

Healey said a DEM employee had noticed Collins’ vehicle was parked illegally on Great Island Road in Galilee. The employee approached the parked car to ask Collins to move, only to discover that she was sleeping in the driver’s seat, according to Healey.

Instead of simply moving her car elsewhere, Healey said the woman flipped off the employee from inside her vehicle.

When an environmental police officer attempted to intervene, Collins sped off onto Galilee Escape Road.

The officer attempted to stop Collins in a marked patrol vehicle. Healey said after the woman took an abrupt U-turn, she intentionally rammed her car into the officer’s vehicle.

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Narragansett Police Chief Sean Corrigan tells 12 News an officer driving by noticed the crash and pulled over. Corrigan said other officers also arrived on scene to assist in apprehending her.

The police chief said at one point, Collins backed her car up into the officer’s marked cruiser, which he had parked in the road to block traffic.

Collins then reversed and rammed back into the environmental officer’s truck twice before her car eventually caught fire. The fire was put out by a good Samaritan who had stopped to help, according to the police chief, and Collins was removed from her car by several officers.

Healey said Collins will likely be facing more charges after the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office reviews the incident.