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State Police say trooper quickly grew suspicious when two men in a disabled car on I-93 at rush hour tried to get him to leave them alone

State Police report troopers arrested two men whose car died on I-93 northbound just before the O'Neill Tunnel Friday evening on a variety of drug and gun charges.

State Police say a trooper who responded to a report of a disabled car around 6 p.m. quickly found the car - and two men who made it clear they just wanted him to leave them alone:

He became suspicious when the two men persisted in their attempt to get him to leave them alone on the highway.

While on scene Trooper Orellana discovered the man who had been operating the vehicle, identified as LUCIO MARTINEZ, 22, of Somerville, had a warrant for his arrest out of Somerville District Court. The Trooper also determined that the man had open cases for Attempted Murder and firearms violations. Trooper Cali arrived moments later to assist.

The troopers placed MARTINEZ under arrest for the warrant and removed the passenger, MARIO MESTANZA-MORAN, 23, of Revere, in order to tow the vehicle. A pat frisk of MESTANZA-MORAN revealed a knife in his front pocket. Troopers also discovered a large, solid item inside his pants. The item was identified as a bag containing approximately 110 grams of cocaine. MESTANZA-MORAN was placed under arrest as well.

State Police say that an inventory search of the car before it was towed uncovered "a loaded 9mm Glock pistol, with an extended magazine capable of holding 15 rounds of ammunition" as well as $700 in cash and four cell phones.

Both men were charged with trafficking in cocaine, conspiracy to violate drug laws, possession of a large-capacity firearm in commission of a felony, illegal possession of a firearm, illegal possession of ammunition and possession of a large-capacity feeding device, State Police say.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

His lawyer is gonna eat that case up, why did they search the passenger?

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Unclear, may potentially be a legitimate Terry frisk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_v._Ohio

For their own protection, after a person has been stopped, police may perform a quick surface search of the person's outer clothing for weapons if they have reasonable suspicion that the person stopped is armed. This reasonable suspicion must be based on "specific and articulable facts" and not merely upon an officer's hunch. This permitted police action has subsequently been referred to in short as a "stop and frisk," or simply a "Terry frisk". The Terry standard was later extended to temporary detentions of persons in vehicles, known as traffic stops; see Terry stop for a summary of subsequent jurisprudence

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Pat frisk. Driver has a warrant and open cases for murder and gun charges? I’m guessing a pat frisk if anyone in the car will be ok.

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Cuz if they say the 4 he had was bulging out his nuts during the pat frisk, the judge def denying that motion. That simple in this case

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It never ends well, thankfully for us citizens.

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I wonder if they had been like, "Oh thank you for helping us" if he would have still asked for license and registration? I don't recall being asked for my license the couple of times that I have broken down and had the police stop to assist.

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An opportunity to learn how to be a professional business operator.
ALWAYS keep your necessary equipment in good working order.

Glad to see incompetence taking down criminals, and nice work, officers.

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"to live outside the law you must be honest."

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Seen it lots of times on regular tows where the operator gets away while the tow company finds a gun in the car.

I also think most police departments have policies now where they have to identify everyone they come in contact with to document stops and gather data for racial profiling. Although I’m guessing this case the frisk happened after they found the car was registered to a guy with an open case for attempted murder.....that can get make you nervous.....

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That's something they can do without a warrant.

And that would lead them to the vehicle being registered to a person with an arrest warrant.

I don't remember being asked for license or registration, either - but neither I nor my husband were subject to an arrest warrant.

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