On Sunday, August 28, 2022, at 8:13 PM, I, Officer Richard Lavey III, was travelling eastbound on Somerville Ave, in a fully marked cruiser, behind a gray Lexus sedan (MA REG# XXXX). The driver of the Lexus, later identified as Brian SOARES, stops at the traffic signal at the intersection of Somerville Ave and Prospect St. in the left turn only lane with his left blinker on.

I stop immediately behind SOARES, also intending on turning left. After about five seconds of the traffic signal being red, with SOARES and I both stopped at the signal, SOARES begins to slowly enter and go through the intersection continuing straight onto Somerville Ave. At this point I activate my emergency lights and check both directions before going through the intersection. Two individuals on bicycles were traveling North on Prospect St. towards Washington St. After the two individuals went through the intersection I continued straight onto Somerville Ave behind SOARES. At this point in time SOARES was traveling on the wrong side of the double yellow lines at about fifteen miles per hour (15 MPH).

As SOARES and I passed Merriam St. SOARES travelled back onto the correct side of the double yellow lines and I updated dispatch via the radio of our location and the attempt to pull over the vehicle. SOARES continued traveling around fifteen miles per hour (15 MPH). The intersection of Somerville Ave and Mcgrath Highway was also red with a queue of several cars preventing SOARES from traveling any further. At this point SOARES pulled over to the right side of the road in front of Target and I updated dispatch with our current location. Officer T. Lambert arrived as back up shortly after I updated dispatch.

Officer T. Lambert and I approached SOARES who was still in his vehicle. I asked SOARES if he knew why I stopped him. SOARES appeared very nervous and only said “I’m sorry.” I informed SOARES that I was stopping him for a red light violation and a marked lanes violation. I asked SOARES for his ID and he informed me that all of the forms of identification he owns are currently at his house. I asked SOARES for his name and date of birth and he told me his name was Brian SOARES and his date of birth was XXXX. Officer Catatao arrived during this conversation.

I returned to my cruiser in order to enter the information SOARES gave me into a query on the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS). No results appeared for a driver’s license with the name and date of birth. The Warrant Management System (WMS) had one warrant with the name Brian SOARES and date of birth XXXX. The address listed for the individual in the WMS was XXXX. Officer T. Lambert asked SOARES where he lived and SOARES provided XXXX. in Framingham as an address.

At this point SOARES was told to step out of his vehicle and was placed under arrest for operating a motor vehicle without a license (CH 90 SEC 10) and for a straight warrant from the city of Framingham for “[failing] to appear.” SOARES was issued citation T1830931. SOARES states the vehicle belongs to his friend, XXXX. The vehicle is registered to XXXX. The vehicle was towed by Pat’s Towing and XXXX was notified via phone of how he can pick up his vehicle.

Respectfully submitted,

Officer Richard Lavey III #365
Somerville Police Dept.