Daily News staff
Newport Daily News, R.I.
NEWPORT, R.I. — A charge of disorderly conduct by fighting against Tiverton Fire Capt. Craig Committo was dismissed in District Court on Thursday.
Judge Colleen Hastings dismissed the charge on the recommendation of the state attorney general’s office, which said in a court document that Committo had engaged in counseling and agreed to pay $250 to the state’s Violent Crimes Indemnity Fund.
Committo, who is also president of the local firefighter’s union, had an alleged physical altercation with an 18-year-old tow truck company worker at the scene of a motorcycle accident on June 1. He was making comments to the worker at the scene of the accident at Narragansett and Summit avenues about how he should back the tow truck up closer to the damaged motorcycle, when the worker made an insulting comment to the captain, according to the police report.
An irritated Committo “proceeded to grab [him] by the throat,” police said, and squeezed for a few seconds. The worker declined to press charges, but police decided to charge the fire captain with disorderly conduct.
Committo was suspended a day after the incident, and would remain on paid leave “pending an investigation and resolution of the matter,” Town Administrator Jan Reitsma said at the time.
The town now is conducting its own investigation into the incident.
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