Rhode Island Councilman Faces Calls to Resign Following Drug Arrest

Storyful
1 年前

Police in Cranston, Rhode Island, released bodycam footage showing the arrest of Republican City Council member Matthew Reilly on a drug charge on Monday, May 15. Reilly is facing calls to resign from city leaders, reports said.

According to the Cranston Herald, police found Reilly asleep in his car after a passerby flagged to Officer Luis Collado that a man was possibly choking.

The video shows Collado waking Reilly, who is asleep in the driver’s seat of his car with a pipe in his hand. Collado questions Reilly, who says he had smoked crack “earlier” at his home but said he did not have drugs in the car. Reilly said he had been clean for 13 years but relapsed recently following a bad divorce.

Officers handcuff Reilly and search him before putting him in a police cruiser. Police said officers searched the vehicle and found crack cocaine and fentanyl. Reilly was taken into custody, arrested, and charged with one count of possession of schedule II narcotics, the Cranston Herald reported. He was released pending a hearing in 3rd District Court on June 15, the outlet said.

Cranston’s Mayor Ken Hopkins told local media Reilly had resigned as chairman of the Cranston Republican Party. Reilly had not resigned his Ward 6 seat as of May 18, despite calls from city leaders, reports said. Credit: Cranston Police Department via Storyful