The following is a brief summary pertaining to Incident

#17023351:

 

On Friday, April 21, 2017, I was working in the Somerville Police Drug Unit as Delta-18. At approximately 4:10 P.M., members of the Somerville Police Drug Unit were conducting surveillance in the area of Cross Street and Alston Street. This area was recently the focal point of a prior narcotic related search warrant in which I was the affiant. Within a few minutes of surveillance, a gray Chevy Cruze bearing Massachusetts registration XXXXX took a left onto Alston Street from Cross Street. I could see a male operator, later identified as Mr. Avery Walker, and female passenger, later identified as YYYYY. This vehicle drove down Alston Street towards a bend that leads to McGrath Highway and pulled over and parked on the left hand side of the street. Mr. Walker appeared to be using his cellular phone at the time he drove past me. As the vehicle was parking, I observed ZZZZZ exit the front door of XX Alston Street on his cellular phone and looking down Alston Street to where the gray Chevy had just parked. ZZZZZ is known to members of the Somerville Police Drug Unit for his previous narcotic related arrests. ZZZZZ walked down the front stairs and quickly down Alston Street to where the gray Chevy was parked. At this time, I took a position where I could observe the gray Chevy and ZZZZZ. As I was taking this position, I observed Mr. Walker on his phone waving to ZZZZZ. ZZZZZ walked straight to the gray Chevy and into the rear passenger side door. I could see Mr. Walker, turning around to ZZZZZ and ZZZZZ reaching forward. Within fifteen seconds, ZZZZZ exited the rear seat and began running back towards his home. At this time, I believed ZZZZZ and Mr. Walker just conducted a street level drug transaction in my training and experience. ZZZZZ entered his residence as Detective Costa pulled onto the street to see if ZZZZZ would soon exit once again.

 

As Detective Costa awaited outside ZZZZZ’s residence with Detective Legros, I followed behind the gray Chevy as it took a right onto McGrath Highway. At this time, I radioed to Somerville Police Dispatch and informed them I would need a motor vehicle stopped. The reason for this motor vehicle stop was to conduct a threshold inquiry. Marked unit East-4, Officer Khoury, activated his emergency blue lights and siren and subsequently stopped this vehicle at the corner of Broadway and McGrath Highway. As the vehicle was stopped, I observed Mr. Walker looking at his side view mirror at Officer Khoury. Mr. Walker did not realize I was to his right as I was in an unmarked police vehicle. Mr. Walker appeared to hand something over to where YYYYY was sitting but I could not see at the time what it was. I approached Mr. Walker with my badge clearly displayed on my outermost garment. As I walked up to the driver’s side window I noticed a large amount of cash inside the cup holder of the gray Chevy. I was stunned at the amount of cash that had just been laying there in the cup holder. I then noticed an open backpack on YYYYY legs as she was sitting in the passenger side. At this time, I made the opinion that the backpack was what Mr. Walker put on the passenger side when being stopped. I asked Mr. Walker for his license and registration. Mr. Walker immediately stated, “What the fuck did I do.” I asked Mr. Walker to calm down and as I did this, his girlfriend, YYYYY, also asked Mr. Walker to calm down. Mr. Walker ignored our request and became more agitated. Mr. Walker stated, “I didn’t fucking do anything, I’m calling my lawyer right now and I’m going to have your ass.” I explained to Mr. Walker that I was currently investigating a possible drug transaction and also, that he did not signal on McGrath Highway while switching lanes, but that I was not concerned with that. At this time, Detective Goncalves arrived on scene as well.

 

I asked Mr. Walker where he was coming from to which he replied he was coming from Everett. Mr. Walker stated that YYYYY picked him up at Sullivan Station and they were driving to Woburn. I asked Mr. Walker if they had stopped anywhere to which he became angry and began yelling, “We didn’t fucking stop anywhere, we came directly from Sullivan Station to here and now your ass stopped me.” I explained to Mr. Walker it did not make any sense for him to be going to Woburn from Sullivan Station, driving onto McGrath Highway, when he could have got onto I-93 from Mystic Avenue around the corner from Sullivan Station. Mr. Walker did not say anything and still was refusing to give me his license and registration. I requested Mr. Walker’s license four times before he began to reach for the open backpack on YYYYY legs. Mr. Walker began reaching to different areas near the backpack and I asked him to just get his license. As Mr. Walker got his license, he began reaching into areas of the vehicle. I asked Mr. Walker to stop, where he began yelling profanities once again, ignoring my commands. YYYYY began yelling to him to stop and then stated that Mr. Walker has a mental health issue and gets worked up easily. Mr. Walker then began clenching his fists and rubbing them together as though he was preparing to fight. I asked Mr. Walker to calm down and he ignored my request once again. Mr. Walker looked at me and stated, “I don’t give a fuck about you, I just did five years upstate. I’m not afraid to do anything.” Due to the safety of officers as well as the safety of YYYYY, I asked Mr. Walker to step out of the vehicle so that I could talk to him. Mr. Walker refused and I tried to calm him down by asking him once again where he had just came from. Mr. Walker yelled again stating he came from Everett and that he was picked up in Sullivan Station and at no time did he stop anywhere along the way. I explained to Mr. Walker that I believed he was involved in a street level drug transaction and that I saw him stopping and meeting with a male. Mr. Walker stated, “Fuck you.” I asked Mr. Walker once again to step out of the vehicle. Mr. Walker quickly stepped out with his fists clenched but then quickly put his hands behind his back yelling, “Just fucking lock me up. I know you’re going to.” I asked Mr. Walker what he meant and he kept repeating, “Just fucking lock me up,” multiple times. Because of his drastic behavior, I had Officer Khoury detain Mr. Walker so that I could speak with his girlfriend. I would note that when Mr. Walker got up I noticed a white Apple iPhone in his pant pocket as well as another iPhone in the cup holder with the cash.

 

As Mr. Walker was being detained by Officer Khoury I asked YYYYY where they had just been coming from. YYYYY stated that she had picked up Mr. Walker and let him drive. She then stated that she was not paying attention where they were going but that she believed they never stopped anywhere. I explained to YYYYY that I observed them meeting with a male to which she stated she did not remember. YYYYY became nervous as she began stuttering looking for words to say. I asked YYYYY if there were any drugs in the vehicle to which she stated she was not sure. I asked YYYYY about the money in the cup holder to which she stated was rent money. YYYYY stated that the money belonged to Mr. Walker but that it was only for their rent. I asked how much money was there and she was not sure. I then asked who the cell phone belonged to in the cup holder. YYYYY stated it was Mr. Walker’s other phone. As YYYYY was speaking to me, Mr. Walker yelled, “Shut the fuck up, don’t talk to them.” I explained to YYYYY that I observed them stopping on Alston Street and the quick meet with ZZZZZ. YYYYY nodded her head as if she understood what I was saying. I asked YYYYY once again if there were any drugs in the vehicle. YYYYY stated, “I don’t know.” I then pointed to the backpack on YYYYY’s leg to which she replied, “That’s not mine,” and threw it to the driver’s seat. The backpack was unzipped and I noticed a small, clear, orange pill bottle labeled to Mr. Walker. Inside of this pill bottle were 2.5 round pills and a knotted glassine baggie which appeared to contain smaller whole pills inside the baggie. In my training and experience, I know drug distributors to use clear knotted glassine baggies to hold prescription pills for distribution purposes. As I knew these pills not to be the same as the one the prescription was for, I opened the pill bottle to further examine the baggie. Inside the baggie were 11 blue, round pills which I believed to be Percocet 30 mg pills, in my training and experience.

 

As I now was holding the glassine baggie, Mr. Walker stated, “Big deal you got my percs. I’ll beat this case.” I informed Mr. Walker that I observed him meeting with ZZZZZ to which Mr. Walker denied. As I explained to Mr. Walker that he was being placed under arrest, he yelled to YYYYY, “Don’t let them take my money.” While observing that the money was now different denominations of mostly twenties, tens, and fives, I asked YYYYY where her purse was. YYYYY pointed down to her purse. I explained to YYYYY that I believed Mr. Walker was selling illegal narcotics and that she was a witness to it. YYYYY did not say anything. I then stated that a normal female would keep that amount of money in a purse in which YYYYY had directly next to her. Further, a normal male would keep his money inside of a wallet or pants pocket, not laying in a cup holder separated into different denominations. Also some money was found in between the center console and driver’s side seat. In my training and experience, the larger amount of pills, large sum of money which was found to be in separate denominations laying in plain sight in the vehicle, as well as two cellular phones, I believed Mr. Walker to be possessing these Percocet 30 mg pills for distribution purposes. It is common for people distributing Percocet to hold a larger amount of pills in one baggie so they can count out how many each potential buyer wants once the meet is conducted.

 

Mr. Walker was transported to Somerville Police Headquarters via marked unit 200, Officer Marra, where he was booked in the usual manner by Lieutenant Mulcahy. As I was awaiting a tow incident to arrest, Mr Walker’s mother arrived on scene and asked what had happened. YYYYY explained what had happened and Mr. Walker’s mother stated she believes him to suffer from mental disorders where he gets worked up easily and begins to want to fight. She then stated that he had just got a job a few days ago and feared he would lose it. I asked how long Mr. Walker had been working to which YYYYY stated he had been working only a couple days. At this time, I asked YYYYY how Mr. Walker was able to have so much money, which was found to be $1,173.00, where he had just got his first job after being released from jail. YYYYY did not answer me at this time.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Detective Fernando Cicerone #279