The Providence TV crew went to the house of Melissa Lawrence to tell her someone had been arrested in her daughter's shooting. But Lawrence turns on reporter Abbey Niezgoda — and gets arrested herself.
Niezgoda takes off after Lawrence lets the dogs out.
This Rhode Island woman didn't want to talk — and was willing to hurt someone to prove it.
A Providence TV crew's attempt at an interview with the mother of a shooting victim never even started as the deranged woman chased the duo away, cursing, threatening with a baseball bat and even siccing two dogs on the petite blond newswoman.
www.abc6.com Abbey Niezgoda, a reporter at ABC 6, goes to interview Melissa Lawrence, whose daughter had been shot that weekend. Abbey Niezgoda, a reporter at ABC 6, went to interview Lawrence following the weekend shooting of her 16-year-old daughter. Another teen had been arrested in the case, and Niezgoda wanted to tell the mother the good news and ask for comment.
Lawrence heaves a rock at cameraman Marc Jackson, just missing his head.
"OK, that's good," Lawrence said as Niezgoda tells her of the arrest.But inexplicably, Lawrence becomes enraged. She walks to the bushes of the home, hefts a rock and chucks it at cameraman Marc Jackson, just missing his head and scraping his arm.
Unsatisfied, Lawrence, wielding a baseball bat, follows the crew into the street.
"Give me my bat," she says, running up the stairs and returning with the weapon.
Niezgoda asks: 'Why are you attacking us, ma'am?'
"Get away from me!" Lawrence yells before unleashing two dogs on the high-heeled blond armed only with a microphone.
www.abc6.com And that’s a wrap: Niezgoda and her crew take off. The dogs chase the reporter, nipping and scratching all along, until Niezgoda shakes them in a backyard three houses away. Lawrence finally calls off the dogs.
"Get the f--- away from my house!" Lawrence screams again. "Dumb white b----."
Lawrence's daughter, Ny'asia Lawrence, 16, was shot Sunday while celebrating a cousin's kindergarten graduation party at the family home.
The elder Lawrence reportedly got into an argument with a group of uninvited teens who showed up, demanding they pay for food they ate or leave. The teens came back armed and shot Ny'asia Lawrence in the lower back.
She's since recovered and left the hospital — but now mom faces the legal system.
Niezgoda received treatment, including a tetanus shot. Jackson, the cameraman, had his arm scratched by the thrown rock.
