10 hours ago
R.I. councilman charged with assaulting man during council meeting
The arrest comes after a Republican leader accused Wegimont of 'body-slamming' him at a South Kingstown Town Council meeting last week.
Anthony D'Ellena, the chairman of the Narragansett Republican Party, claims Wegimont left in the middle of the June 9 meeting and 'charged' at him in the hallway, slamming into him and yelling at him.
Advertisement
D'Ellena had previously posted online about Wegimont's DUI arrests from 2022 and 2023, calling on him to resign as a councilman.
Get Rhode Map
A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State.
Enter Email
Sign Up
Video from the South Kingstown Town Council's YouTube page shows D'Ellena and two women leaving the room about three hours into the meeting, after the council finished discussing a school construction issue they were there to observe. The video shows Wegimont also get up from dais at the front of the room and walk out of the chamber. (Wegimont missed a vote about school construction.)
In the hallway, D'Ellena claims Wegimont 'charged at me.'
'He physically pushed his body into mine,' D'Ellena told the Globe. 'He was screaming, 'hey, hey.''
'I thought he was going to physically start punching me,' D'Ellena continued. He said he walked away, and Wegimont followed him into a stairwell.
Advertisement
At that point, D'Ellena said, he started to record Wegimont on his phone.
In the video provided to news outlets, D'Ellena asks Wegimont, 'Councilman, did you just follow me out of a meeting?'
'I didn't appreciate you talking about me online,' Wegimont responded. 'I wanted to talk to you and say 'hey, I didn't appreciate what you put about me online.'
'I don't appreciate you drunk driving,' D'Ellena replied.
'That's fair,' Wegimont said.
D'Ellena said the alleged assault happened before he started recording, and that Wegimont 'calmed down' once he began taking video of him. He did not capture the alleged assault, which he said happened earlier in the confrontation.
'I don't think anyone leaves a Town Council meeting expecting to be assaulted by a sitting town council member,' D'Ellena said. 'Maybe I should start wearing body cam if I ever go back.'
In a statement to police and provided to the Globe, he said he felt Wegimont was attempting to 'intimidate and silence me for exercising my First Amendment rights as a political figure.'
Two South Kingstown GOP officials who were with him gave witness statements to police, D'Ellena said.
Wegimont, a Democrat, was first elected to the Town Council last fall.
It's not clear why police did not immediately release the arrest report, which is considered a public record under state law.
'This is an ongoing investigation and we will provide updates as warranted,' Moynihan said in a press release.
Earlier Tuesday, before announcing the charge against Wegimont, Moynihan had declined to release the initial incident report because of the ongoing investigation.
Advertisement
Wegimont was arraigned on the charge at the police department Tuesday and is due back in court in July, Moynihan said.
The Rhode Island Republican Party called on Wegimont to resign over the weekend, prior to the criminal charge being filed.
'This wasn't just a lapse in judgment — it was a violent, calculated act of political retaliation, carried out in public and witnessed by multiple people,' Joe Powers, the state
GOP chairman, said in a press release Saturday. 'Let's call this what it is: an abuse of power and a disqualifying act for anyone holding public office.'
Suzanne Ouellette, the chief of communications for the Providence Public School District, said the school department was aware of the charge and placed Wegimont on leave.
'Since this is a personnel matter, we will not be providing further comment at this time,' Ouellette said.
South Kingstown Town Council President Rory McEntee could not immediately be reached for comment.
Steph Machado can be reached at
