WPD Charges Toll Gate Teacher With Sexual Assault at Bar

Warwick, RI – A Warwick Police officer was called to the area of Emmons Avenue for a disturbing the peace report Sept. 12 just before 11 p.m., finding an intoxicated man walking there whom they later arrested for sexual assault at a nearby bar.

Police identified the man as Brendan Friel, 31, of 25 Emmons Ave., a teacher at Toll Gate High School, since suspended with pay. Several people approached the officer and identified Friel as having been involved in an altercation inside O’Rourkes Bar and Grill, 23 Peck Lane, according to police.

The officer learned that Friel had approached a 29-year-old woman at the bar and spoke to her, which appeared to make her uncomfortable, according to police. The woman moved to a different area.

While she was seated at the bar, Friel approached and shoved his hand under her bottom, inappropriately touching her buttocks. Friel then left the bar and walked toward Emmons Avenue, where he was later located and then arrested by officers.

Interim Warwick Schools Superintendent William Holland said Friel, an “effective teacher”, has been teaching at Toll Gate for three years. He said he received word about the incident form WPD Chief Col. Stephen McCartney Sept. 13, a Sunday, and suspended the teacher that Monday.

“I suspended him immediately,” Holland said.

Friel will remain suspended with pay until the School Committee conducts a hearing Sept. 29 to discuss his status, including if he will be suspended without pay.

Friel  was arrested by Warwick Police in 2012  and charged with DUI, to which he pleaded no contest and got one years’ probation and a one-year loss of license. A refusal to submit charge was dismissed. According to an article in the Warwick Beacon, Friel is also a boys volleyball coach at Warwick Vets High School.

Friel was arraigned in Kent County District Court on Sept. 14, and was released on $5,000 surety bail. A screening conference with the Department of Attorney General is scheduled for Oct. 19.