On April 16, 2016, I, Officer Tim Van Nostrand, was on duty and assigned to uniform patrol in marked cruiser East 1. At approximately 8:18pm, I was dispatched along with Officer Devin Schneider (East 4) for a possibly intoxicated male in the area of 5 Middlesex Ave.
Upon arrival, the reporting party pointed to MA XXXXX, a blue Dodge Intrepid, parked in the parking lot of KMART. I parked my cruiser a few spots away, and approached the Dodge on foot. I stood on the driver’s side, undetected by the lone Asian male operator. I observed as the male was unfolding napkins in his lap. Next to his right hand I observed a bottle cap with a brown powder substance, and one capped syringe. I then verbally announced my presence and ordered the operator to stop what he was doing. While doing so, Officer Schneider observed a plastic knotted bag containing a brown powdered substance in the center console. Through my training and experience, I know that heroin is commonly packaged this way.
Once alerted to this, I removed the male, identified as Andy Bui, from the running vehicle, and placed him into handcuffs. Once out of the car, Officer Schneider read Bui his Miranda rights from a card he keeps in his pocket. I secured the syringe, and retrieved the bottle cap, and knotted bag containing the brown powder substance believed to be heroin.
Post Miranda, Bui admitted to purchasing heroin in the parking lot of Home Depot tonight, and has purchased heroin in the Assembly Square mall parking lot in the past. After those admissions, Bui became uncooperative with investigators.
Bui was informed he was being charged with possession of a Class A substance, heroin (94c/34/A). Officer Pavao transported Bui to the station in unit 200, and he was booked by Lt. DiGregorio.
The bag was weighed by Detective Jason Costa, and had a preliminary weight of 2.0 grams. The knotted bag and bottle cap were tagged into evidence. The vehicle was left parked in the KMART parking lot.
Respectfully submitted,
Officer Tim Van Nostrand
#293
Somerville Police Dept.