MANCHESTER, NH – Court documents draw a broader picture of a 56-year-old homeless woman who was the focus of a Manchester Police Department news release last month when she was released on personal recognizance bail even though she had failed to appear in court on five previous occasions.
Laura Addario, who was arrested for disorderly conduct on Oct. 21 in Veterans Park after she refused to move out of a deconstruction zone where workers were taking down the city’s 50-foot yellow tent, has a long history with police dating back on May 29, 2018. On that occasion, she was cited for consuming alcohol in public. She was drinking a 24-ounce can of beer in the alley behind Down the Block at Pine Street and Manchester Court at the time, according to court records.
She would be cited for that same violation 10 more times, always within a few blocks of the New Horizons homeless shelter. She never showed up for any of the court hearings.
In the following months, Addario’s interactions with police climbed to the misdemeanor level.
On April 12 of this year, she was arrested on misdemeanor charges of criminal trespass and resisting arrest for refusing to leave Antojitos at 173 Hanover St. That was followed on April 22 with another criminal trespass arrest, this time at Down the Block on Hanover Street. She also was cited for contempt of court for failing to comply with bail conditions.
In a bail pre-release form on file in 9th Circuit – District Division – Manchester in the April 22 case, Addario said she had been homeless for a year and was living out of her vehicle. She said she has lived in New Hampshire for three years, is unemployed but last worked as a bartender, a job that lasted two nights. Addario said she hasn’t been convicted of a crime.
On May 5, she was arrested for criminal trespass at Down the Block which was followed with her May 23 arrest for criminal trespass at the Saigon Asian Market, 476 Union St.
On July 3, she was arrested on two counts of simple assault on police officers, disorderly conduct and violation of bail conditions. Police were sent to the area of 274 Manchester St., behind Cumberland Farms, to check on an individual. Officer Michael R. Buckley, in his sworn affidavit, said the caller pointed to two people lying on the ground between her residence and 274 Manchester St. Both were asleep and had numerous opened 24-ounce cans of Natty Daddy strewn about them. Buckley recognized Addario because he had been a backup officer earlier in the day when she was issued a summons for having an open alcohol container.
Addario, on waking, was verbally abusive telling officers to “leave her the fuck alone” and to “fuck off.”
Officers got her to stand up and she began to leave the area. Addario made it to the cruiser housing K-9 Ace and began taunting the dog, Buckley wrote. The woman who had called the police heard her and said, “She really needs to watch her language. It’s horrible.”
The officers went to remove Addario from the area of the cruiser and Addario, whose face was inches from the door, yelled into the cruiser “tell that dog to shut the fuck up.”
The officers arrested her for disorderly conduct. Once she was handcuffed, she became more aggressive, tried to pull away and bent down to twist out of their grasp. The officers got her to sit down on the ground. She turned on her side and then allegedly kicked Buckley twice in the leg.
Ultimately, she was taken to the station to be booked. When it came time to search her, police said she became physically combative again and kicked Officer Adrianne Davenport on her right leg. She tried a second time but three officers were able to put her on the ground with minimal effort. She was re-handcuffed and secured to the booking bench.
Addario was arraigned on July 4 when the state filed a motion to revoke her bail. The court scheduled a hearing for July 8 at which her defense attorney filed a motion to determine Addario’s competency. At that point, the state withdrew its motion to revoke bail.
A hearing was held concerning whether Addario should be held on preventative detention. Judge William H. Lyons later issued an order in which he said he would not order her held prior to trial.
“Despite the defendant’s failure to appear on five separate violation level offenses within the last year, the New Hampshire Legislature has made a policy choice to constrain these matters from being considered in terms of setting bail. Because the defendant has only failed to appear two times on class A misdemeanor offenses, the Court, as a matter of law, may not set bail that will result in detention,” he said in his July 8 order.
He said Addario’s behavior was escalating, that there were multiple violations of bail conditions and significant reason to believe that bail conditions will be ineffective. “Nonetheless, that is not the standard the Court is to employ to detain the individual,” he wrote.
He also said that while there is probable cause to believe assaults happened and that she has resisted arrest, “there is no conduct by the defendant which can lead to a finding by clear and convincing evidence that this individual is a danger to themselves or others,” he wrote. “The court does not doubt there will be further criminal conduct, but the behaviors to this point don’t establish a risk of serious bodily injury or death.”
Addario was then released on personal recognizance bail.
In September, she was scheduled for a competency evaluation but, just as she has spurned the court, she did not show for the appointment.
Her arrest on Oct. 21 apparently was the final straw for police. On that morning in Veterans Park, Lt. Shawn McCabe and Sgt. Robert J. Keating were waved down by Dan Spenard, manager for Louis Cote Rigging. He said he was trying to take down the 50-foot yellow tent but Addario would not leave the job site. He said he asked her over a dozen times to leave but she refused. Two large cranes were set up on either side of the tent and the area below it was taped off with red caution tape. Workers were all wearing hard hats.
Addario was within the taped off area speaking to one of the workers.
The officers asked her to walk out of the construction zone. She did and the officers asked her why she was in the area after being told to leave. She said the rigging company was taking the tent down wrong and she wanted the tent to stay up for one more night. McCabe explained it was being taken down that day and she could not go back into the area while that was happening for her safety and the safety of workers. Addario kept saying she did not want the tent removed that day and McCabe told her if she returned to the restricted area she would be arrested.
The officers continue on their foot patrol but by the time they reached Elm and Merrimack streets, Keating looked back at the tent and saw Addario walking toward the tent and then stop right under the middle of it. The workers had to stop what they were doing and yell at her to get out of the area.
The officers went back and arrested her. She was released on personal recognizance bail by Judge Edward Tenney who ordered a competency evaluation be done.
The court set a hearing for Oct. 30 for all of Addario’s pending cases. She didn’t appear and the court entered a default order which will result in her driver’s license being suspended by the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
A date for another court hearing has yet to be scheduled.
