Two from Burrillville found hiding from police, arrested after trio allegedly attacks city woman

WOONSOCKET –  Harsh words led to physical violence as three women, including two from Burrillville, assaulted another female in a feud at a city residence on Sunday, Jan. 18, police say.

Savannah Champagne, 26, of 65 Howard Ave. and Courtney Ciraso, 29, of 20 Pine St. – both in the Pascoag section of town – were charged with one count each of assault and battery, and obstructing police. Champagne had also been sought by authorities on an active warrant for possession of a controlled substance out of Jamestown after she failed to appear for arraignment on the charge in Superior Court on Oct. 2, the judiciary’s website says. 

Also arrested was Haileigh McClure, 23, of 240 Alice Ave. in Woonsocket. Like Champagne and Ciraso, she was charged with obstructing – for allegedly lying to investigators about what happened. But she was charged with domestic assault because the individual who was attacked by the trio, police say, was McClure’s roommate.

When officers responded to a report of a disturbance at the single-family ranch shortly after 2 a.m., they discovered the victim with abrasions on her face and a scraped knee.

The victim told police that McClure, acting alone, had punched her in the face and chest during an argument shortly before the trio ganged up on her. She left the house briefly, but when she returned she found McClure in the kitchen with Champagne and Ciraso, talking about her and calling her names. When the victim asked them to stop, Ciraso allegedly grabbed her by the hair and “ripped” her to the ground, according to Officer Stephen Burrell’s report.

Then all three women began striking her with closed fists as Ciraso dragged her outside by the hair across a patch of concrete.

The victim reportedly managed to escape the onslaught, running back to the house to call for help.

After the police arrived, McClure painted her roommate as the aggressor, telling officers she’d been kicked down the basement stairs by her. But Burrell concluded the story was a fabrication, noting in his report that the victim would have had to kick McClure up the stairs – not down – because McClure also claimed that’s where the fight began.

McClure also denied repeatedly that anyone else was in the house when the police arrived. Yet, moments later, officers found Champagne and Ciraso crouched “in a fetal position” behind a boiler in a basement storage area.

Neither of those two women mentioned the altercation. They told police they went to the basement because one of them had to vomit.