‘Tazed and Confused’ LivePD Suspect Held on DWI Charge

WARWICK, RI — The Warwick man shown on the Sept. 22 edition of A&E’s LivePD program was ordered held overnight Sunday at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston following his arrest for driving while intoxicated.

Steven M. Rogers, 21, of 106 Pinegrove Ave., faces multiple charges and traffic citations for the incident shown on Friday night’s LivePD broadcast. The episode follows Sgt. John Curley as he joins a high-speed pursuit of Rogers’s pickup truck beginning on Jefferson Boulevard in Warwick and ending behind the Chapel View shopping center off Sockanosset Cross Road in Cranston.

The pursuit began at about 10 p.m. on Post Road, according to Warwick Police records.

Footage from the episode shows Rogers’s truck driving onto Rte. 37, followed by several Warwick Police vehicles and slowing because of damage to the front right tire caused when the truck hit a parked vehicle in Warwick.

At Exit 2B, Rogers’s truck slows down, and a group of officers get out of their vehicles before Rogers’s truck suddenly begins moving again and drives in the wrong direction down the on-ramp from Pontiac Avenue. A short time later, Rogers is seen running from the truck after it can not move any further, and leading officers on a foot chase before a Warwick officer uses a taser to subdue him.

Curley is also shown searching the truck and finding a small amount of marijuana, along with several empty hard iced tea bottles. At one point in the program, a graphic appears terming the incident “Tazed and Confused.”

Warwick Police charged Rogers with misdemeanor charges of DWI; reckless driving/eluding police; resisting arrest; driving with a suspended license; and possession of marijuana, all first offenses.

At separate arraignment hearings Monday morning in Kent County District Court, Rogers posted 10 percent of the bail amounts set by Judge Joseph P. Ippolito Jr., $5,000 for the suspended license charge, and $7,000 for the DWI, reckless driving, and resisting arrest charges.

Rogers is next due in court on Oct. 10.

Officers also issued traffic citations for failure to render aid (hit-and-run); driving without insurance; refusing to submit to a breath test; roadway violations; failing to stop at stop signs; failure to obey traffic signals; failing to use a turn signal; and driving an unsafe vehicle. In two separate hearings at the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal, Rogers was fined a total of $350.50.

Warwick is the first Rhode Island police department to be featured on LivePD, which is shown on Friday and Saturday nights.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with information about Rogers posting bail on Sept. 24.