By VINAYA SAKSENA

CENTRAL FALLS -- A 19-year-old was arrested and a Dexter Street restaurant may face disciplinary action after the youth was allegedly found drunk after causing a ruckus there.

Drunken kid causes ruckus, say cops

By VINAYA SAKSENA

CENTRAL FALLS -- A 19-year-old was arrested and a Dexter Street restaurant may face disciplinary action after the youth was allegedly found drunk after causing a ruckus there.

Lorenzo Gonzales, of 151 Illinois St., was arrested Sunday night on charges of vandalism/ malicious injury to property, resisting legal or illegal arrest and disorderly conduct. He was held at the police station overnight.

Police responded to El Chapin Restaurant, at 508 Dexter St., just before 8 p.m. after receiving a report of a fight.

A man working security at El Chapin told police that a young man walking down the street had just broken one of the building's front windows.

Officer Omar Ospina then reportedly caught up to the young man, later identified as Gonzales, and informed him he was under arrest. Ospina noted that the youth appeared "highly intoxicated."

"While attempting to place my handcuffs on the male subject, he immediately began to pull his right hand away from his body," Ospina wrote in his arrest report. "I was able to put one handcuff on his right hand. While attempting to pull the other hand away from his body, the male subject began to move his body away from me, attempting to get away."

Ospina eventually managed to get the suspect on the ground by pulling on the handcuffs, though the young man continued to resist, police said. He was finally handcuffed and placed in a cruiser.

Efrain Pleitez, who manages El Chapin, told police that no other customers had given him any trouble that night, and that the Gonzales was "a well-known customer" whose behavior that night "surprised" him.

Ospina then advised Pleitez that El Chapin "was being reported, due to so many (fights) that had (been) occurring in the past weeks."

Col. Joseph Moran, the city's chief of police, said, "I know they've had fights out in the front in the past, so we're going to look into that."

El Chapin's owner was unavailable for comment Monday.

Moran said the matter would likely go before the City Council in the near future. Council President William Benson Jr. said the council members, in their role as the city's liquor board, would review a report from Moran if the chief chose to file one.

Problems appear to involve fights in or near the restaurant and not necessarily underage drinking. Ospina reported speaking to three female bartenders at El Chapin on Sunday, all of whom denied serving alcohol to Gonzalez.

Whether or not a venue has a history of serving minors would be a factor in the severity of any punishment the business may face, according to Benson. Just the same, he made it clear that the council intended to be aggressive in tackling such problems.

"This council has been fairly strict with the licenses," Benson said. "If it's the first time, we don't usually shut them down. If it's the second or third time, then we might shut them down."