Man Leads Police on Short Chase up Rt. 128 After Suspected Drug Deal

When a police detective saw what appeared to be a drug deal occur in a Danvers neighborhood on Tuesday, he pursued one of the involved vehicles toward Route 128.

But when he went to stop the BMV SUV, it didn't stop. Instead, he could see the driver moving around in the vehicle.

The SUV finally stopped on Route 128 in Beverly and the driver was arrested. Carlos J. Perez, 34, of 556 Chestnut St., No. 3, in Lynn was charged with failure to stop for police, resisting arrest and subsequent offense of operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license.

It started at about 1:50 p.m. on Tuesday while a Danvers police detective, working on a special assignment with a team from the Drug Enforcement Agency, was monitoring a Danvers neighborhood along the Beverly border where he had received information drug deals were occurring.

When he saw what appeared to be a drug deal occur, he followed one of the vehicles, a black BMW SUV.

He followed the BMW up on to Route 128 northbound as they got close to the Beverly line, he activated his lights and siren. Perez allegedly did not stop and could be seen making "pushing and pulling motions with his arm," according to a police report on the arrest.

The BMW was obeying the speed limit and was driving under control, police said.

"The operator just refused to stop until he finished whatever action he started," police said, and after about a mile the BMW stopped in Beverly.

Perez was ordered, at gunpoint, to show his hands. While he showed his hands out the window, he would not get out of the vehicle as police had ordered. Instead, he allegedly clenched his hands as police worked to remove him from the SUV.

Perez, who was the only person in the car, was not charged with any drug offenses, But police said he is not stranger to drug deals, since the same person who owned the BMW he was driving was the owner of a vehicle that was involved in a drug arrest in Danvers in 2010. After that arrest, Perez posted bail for the two suspects who were charged with distributing heroin and cocaine. Perez himself was on probation at the time of arrest after a 2010 conviction for drug distribution in Lynn.

After pleading not guilty in Salem District Court, his bail was set at $250.