Coke Found In Car Near Somerville School: Police

SOMERVILLE, MA – A Medford man was arrested over the weekend after allegedly admitting three bags found in the glove compartment of a car outside a Somerville school were cocaine, police said. Shawn Smith, 24, also told responding officers the bags were his, according to the police report.

Smith faces charges of drug possession with intent to distribute and drug violation near a school stemming from the Feb. 24 arrest.

According to the police report, an officer pulled the car over near Healey Elementary School after the driver allegedly ran a stop sign. There were three people in the car, so the officer requested backup, according to the police report.

Police approached the car and asked the occupants to put their hands on their laps. The driver handed his license and registration to police, but kept moving his right hand down his side.

"Fearing for officer safety with the knowledge of the recent gun call that he and this vehicle were involved in and his right hand moving around," police asked the driver to speak to him at the rear of the car, according to the report. The driver replied, "Sure, officer Sean."

As the driver got out, police allegedly saw a "clear glassine baggy" in the cup holder with what appeared to be a "green leafy substance" inside. The driver gave the officer permission to search him; no weapons were found, police said.

The car's passengers, Smith and a juvenile, were asked to get out of the car so the officers could search it. Inside, police allegedly found three "individually packaged clear glassine baggies each with a white powdery substance inside of them," the report stated.

The three were handcuffed and told they were under arrest. Smith allegedly told police the bags were his and that they contained cocaine, not fentanyl.

The driver and the other passenger do not face criminal charges.

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