PEABODY — State Troopers assigned to the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section (VFAS) arrested bank robbery suspect Brandon Simmons early on Wednesday morning after a struggle in the lobby of the Homewood Suites hotel on Route 1.
Simmons was booked at the State Police-Danvers barracks and was arraigned Wednesday in Newburyport District Court in connection with a prior robbery of a drug store in that city.
A State Police press release stated that VFAS troopers entered the hotel lobby and located Simmons after a trooper assigned to patrol out of the State Police-Danvers Barracks observed the stolen vehicle Simmons was believed to be driving parked outside the hotel.
The suspect violently struggled with the troopers in an attempt to evade arrest but was subdued and taken into custody, the release stated.
The arrest came a short time after Danvers Police observed Simmons driving and attempted to stop him. He refused to stop and fled from Danvers officers and was able to avoid capture at that time.
Numerous police agencies began flooding the area looking for him, leading to the trooper’s observance of the suspect vehicle at the Route 1 hotel.
Simmons will be summoned to Peabody District Court at a later date to answer to fresh charges from Wednesday morning’s incidents. He was also being sought for a robbery of a bank in York, Maine.
The FBI is the lead investigative agency on that incident and further inquiries about that should be directed to federal authorities.
