Lynn traffic stop turns violent

LYNN – A judge ordered $25,000 cash bail for a city man police said tried to swallow suspected cocaine and tried to fight off arresting officers and drive away during a traffic stop following an undercover drug operation.”(The defendant) continued to throw punches and reached for the gear shift,” Lynn Police Officer Ross Panacopoulos wrote in a police report. “Fearing that he was going to drive away endangering the officers and civilians, Sergeant (Robert) Avery punched him in the face as I ripped his hands off the gear shift.”Josean Ayala-Alicea, 26, of 303 Broadway #C05, was arrested and charged with trafficking in cocaine; possession with intent to distribute Class B drugs; assault and battery on a police officer, three counts; resisting arrest; operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license; and failure to stop for police; at 8:10 p.m. Thursday.He was arraigned on the charges Friday in the Intensive Care Unit of Union Hospital, according to court documents.Police reported the investigation into Ayala-Alicea began in late February as a joint operation between Lynn and Beverly Police, according to court documents. Officers were given a telephone number they could use to purchase drugs, which would later be delivered from one of two “runners.” Police arrested one of the runners, identified only as “Manny,” on March 8, and seized 28 bags of cocaine, according to court documents.A Beverly officer made two undercover buys from the other runner, “Jimmy,” later identified as Ayala-Alicea, and learned he was driving with a suspended license.Officers pulled Ayala-Alicea over on Parkland Avenue near Linwood Street on Thursday, but the defendant drove away while the officer was getting out of his vehicle. The suspect’s vehicle stopped a little further down the road and officers reported seeing Ayala-Alicea start throwing packets of suspected cocaine into his mouth.Officers reported receiving and throwing multiple punches as officers got Ayala-Alicea from the vehicle.Police reported finding three more packets of suspected cocaine in the car and officers took the car keys to get inside Ayala-Alicea’s apartment.Inside the empty apartment, police said they saw, in plain view, materials used for drug dealing. Returning with a search warrant, police reported recovering a “kilo press,” which is used to press drugs into kilogram bricks, 33 grams of cocaine in 47 bags (weighed on one of the scales recovered in apartment) and $5,503 in cash.Ayala-Alicea was arraigned in the hospital while under observation for having swallowed the suspected cocaine, and Judge James LaMothe ordered the defendant held on $25,000 cash bail. Ayala-Alicea is scheduled to return to court April 15.