Thursday, November 14, 2024

April Fools??? Day Shenanigans

City, Police, PawSox Collaborate on April Fools??? Day Shenanigans

Give Opening Day tickets safe drivers, students

??A PAW

Pawtucket ??? The City of Pawtucket, the Pawtucket Police Department and the Pawtucket Red Sox got together to have a little fun in the community by handing out Opening Day tickets to unsuspecting motorists that were safely operating their vehicles.

Captain Newman of the City???s new Neighborhood Response Unit (NRU), along with his deputy for the day, Officer Paws, the beloved mascot for the Pawtucket Red Sox, were out citing safe drivers in neighborhoods today and rewarding them with tickets to the team???s home opener at McCoy Stadium on April 7th at 7:05 p.m. versus the Buffalo Bisons.

???We thought this would be a fun way to kick off the 2016 season in partnership with the team and have a little fun on April Fools??? Day while we were at it,??? said Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien.

The prank opens with Captain Newman flashing the lights behind motorists and approaching the vehicle on the driver???s side. While asking the operator of the vehicle ???Do you know why I stopped you today???? Paws and the film crew would sneak around the passenger side of the vehicle and knock on the window before brandishing the tickets and capturing the vehicle operator???s reaction on camera. See the video here:

https://vimeo.com/161245051

In total, twenty tickets to opening day were handed out to people in the community. ???Part of the NRU???s goal in the City is to take this community approach to policing and build that trust with residents,??? said Captain Newman of the initiative. ???We want people to know that just because we wear the uniform and the badge, it does not mean that we don???t occasionally like to have fun. We are thrilled that the PawSox were able to team up with us on something like this,??? continued Newman.

??Students at Slater Middle School in Pawtucket were not immune to April Fools??? Day festivities either. With the help of Slater Middle School Principal, Dr. Jacqueline Ash, students were brought into the principal???s office before, to their relief, being handed game tickets to Thursday night???s game at McCoy.

?????We enjoyed celebrating April Fools??? Day with the City of Pawtucket and the Police Department, and giving away free tickets to members of our community,??? said Senior Vice President/ General Manager, Dan Rea. ???We thank Mayor Grebien, Captain Newman, and our friends with the city for their help with this effort leading up to Opening Day.???