A recent police chase of four gang members through residential streets and yards off Freeport Street and Morrissey Boulevard could soon be factored into a challenge of a ballot law that has reduced penalties for possessing an ounce or less of marijuana.
The Saturday night chase ended with police shooting one of four men after he allegedly pointed an assault rifle at officers. The man shot by police was Marvin Veiga, 21, of Dorchester, who is being held on $500,000 bail.
He is the same man law enforcement officials say was out on bail and in violation of a court order barring him from Dorchester, stemming from a Jan. 23 incident where he was charged with possession of a 9mm handgun. In that incident at the Freeport exit off Route 93, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley’s office, a State Police trooper had stopped a car in which Veiga was a passenger for excessive window tinting. The trooper smelled marijuana and searched the vehicle, allegedly finding a loaded handgun in a backpack next to where Veiga was sitting.
READ MORE Pot law passed in ’08 gains scrutiny in wake of Dot chase, shooting
Dorchester Reporter, 01/13/2011