Spitting Patient Faces Kent Hospital Guard Assault Charge

WARWICK, RI — Officer Katerina Athaide was called to Kent Hospital, 455 Toll Gate Road, April 7 at 6:45 p.m. for a Kent Hospital guard assault by a spitting Cranston man now jumping in front of passing vehicles.

When Athaide arrived, WPD Detective Randy Bell was already there, according to the officer’s report. He informed her the man was at the bus stop in front of the hospital, and had refused to leave the property. Members of the hospital’s security staff informed them that the man, identified as Robert Corry, 35, of 105 Weber Ave., Cranston, RI, had spit on one of their security guards, according to the report.

Athaide and Bell spoke with the security staff, obtaining a written statement about the assault from the guard. He said that as he was discharging Corry from the hospital, the man began to bang his head on the wall and stated he was not leaving.

Corry made a fist and threatened to strike the guard, and he and other hospital security staff held him down to prevent any violence. The guard heard Corry make a sound with his mouth, then spit on the side of his face, and also his pants, according to the report. Security staff then escorted Corry to the parking lot. The guard said he wanted to press charges against Corry.

As the guard was relaying the story, Athaide said, he was undergoing the hospital’s exposure procedures, as well as wiping a clear-white stain from his pants.

A witness to the assault confirmed the guard’s account, saying Corry, ‘hacked up some saliva,” and spit in the guard’s face, covering the right side of the man’s face. The guard immediately backed away and wiped his face, she said, as other guards escorted Corry out.

Athaide spoke with Corry, who was with Officers David Babcock and Nicholas Mannocchio. Corry admitted to spitting in the man’s face, according to the report. Babcock then arrested and handcuffed Corry, and Athaide transported him to Warwick Police Headquarters, 99 Veterans Memorial Drive, where she charged him with one count of simple assault, reported in the April 2024 arrest log.

He was arraigned April 18 in Third District Court and released on $1,000 surety @ 10%, $100. He was issued a non-contact order for the guard on May 6 and scheduled for a pretrial conference on the charge for May 31.