Brockton man faces 19 charges after struggle with police

A Brockton man in possession of a loaded gun and drugs struggled violently with Massachusetts State Troopers during the overnight hours after one of the Troopers stopped the man’s car on Route 95 northbound in Dedham. The suspect began a violent struggle after Troopers got him out of the car and found illegal narcotics on him.

After Troopers located a plastic bag believed to contain suboxone in the driver’s pants pocket, the driver jumped back into his car, put it into gear, and began to drive away as Sgt. Walter Foley and Trooper Michael Murphy jumped into the car on top of him to subdue him and stop the car. The suspect, driving a 2000 Buick Century, drove about 12 yards with the Sergeant and Trooper hanging onto the outside of the car, struggling with the suspect, before the Trooper was able to bump the car into neutral, step on the brakes, and remove the keys from the ignition.

The driver, a 30-year-old Brockton resident, continued to violently resist the Troopers attempts to subdue him. At two points during the struggle, a Trooper deployed his department-issued Taser in drive-stun mode in attempt to subdue the suspect before the confrontation escalated further. The Sergeant and Trooper were finally able to pin the driver onto the car’s passenger seat and get him into handcuffs.

With the suspect cuffed and back outside his car, Troopers again conducted a pat frisk and located what they believed, through training and experience, to be another suspicious package concealed under his clothing near his buttocks. The driver’s began resisting again in an apparent attempt to prevent the Troopers from removing the package he was concealing. After another struggle Sgt. Foley was able to remove the package, which was found to contain an off-white rock-like substance in a clear plastic bag. The Troopers, through their training and experience, believed the substance to be cocaine, which was later weighed to be approximately 28 grams.

During an inventory search of the car the suspect had been driving, Troopers located a black, zip-style bag directly behind the driver’s seat and within easy reach of the driver. Inside the bag was a fully-loaded silver Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum handgun, along with four individually wrapped bags of a green vegetable matter believed, through the Troopers’ training and experience, to be marijuana.
Troopers determined that the driver does not possess a license to carry a firearm.

Trooper Murphy had stopped the Buick Century at approximately 2:17 a.m. after he observed that it did not have an inspection sticker. Upon initially approaching the Century, Trooper Murphy identified the driver, and made observations that led him to determine the driver was operating a motor vehicle while impaired. Troopers also took a pocket knife from the driver’s possession.
The driver refused medical attention following his arrest.

Trooper Murphy transported the driver to State Police Framingham Barracks, where he was booked on the following charges:

1. Carrying a loaded firearm;
2. Carrying a firearm while intoxicated;
3. Committing a firearm violation with one prior violent or drug crime;
4. Possession of a firearm without a Firearm Identification Card;
5. Possession of ammunition without a Firearm Identification Card;
6. Assault and battery on a police officer (two counts);
7. Assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (two counts);
8. Possession of a firearm during a felony;
9. Resisting Arrest (two counts);
10. Improper storage of a firearm;
11. Possession of a Class B narcotic with intent to distribute;
12. Possession of a Class B narcotic, subsequent offense;
13. Possession of a Class D substance with intent to distribute, subsequent offense;
14. Trafficking in cocaine;
15. Operating under the influence of drugs;
16. Possession of an open container of marijuana;
17. Carrying a dangerous weapon (pocket knife);
18. Disorderly conduct; and
19. Driving a vehicle with no inspection sticker.

A bail clerk set the driver’s bail at $500,000. He was expected to be arraigned today in Dedham District Court.