MANCHESTER, NH – They may not have the gadgetry of Batman and Robin, after making a drug arrest Thursday at Enright Park, it’s likely that Chief Carlo Capano and Assistant Chief Ryan Grant will earn the reputation as the “dynamic duo.”
Capano and Grant were conducting their daily patrol of Manchester city parks on Aug. 23 at about 1:10 p.m. when they observed a man and woman consuming alcohol in Enright Park. As they proceeded south on Lincoln Street, they observed that both subjects had open containers of alcohol while seated on a park bench on the east side of the park.
They made contact with Aaron Brunelle, 31, no fixed address, and a 35-year-old female companion. Chief Capano spoke with Brunelle while Assistant Chief Grant spoke with Bemis. Chief Capano noticed an open bag between Brunelle’s legs as he asked him about his public consumption of alcohol. He also observed a blue straw with white powder inside of an open cigarette pack which was located in plain view on top of the open bag. Brunelle immediately grabbed the cigarette pack and attempted to discard the items when Chief Capano confronted him about the items he observed.
Brunelle was able to dump some of the contents from the cigarette pack, which landed on top of his folded laundry inside of the plastic bag. Chief Capano noted a partially folded piece of paper with a white powdery substance land on top of the clothing items when Brunelle dumped the pack. He recognized the substance to be cocaine, so he placed Brunelle into custody and charged him with possession of controlled drug and also issued a city ordinance violation for the open container of beer. The blue straw with cocaine residue was also located inside of the cigarette pack.
Chief Capano also located a second cigarette pack during a search incident to arrest. Inside, he located a glass pipe, commonly used to smoke crack cocaine, and a steel wool pad. All items were seized and placed into evidence. Bemis was not charged in the incident and released from the scene.
He was charged with possession of a controlled drug and falsifying physical evidence. Brunelle is scheduled to appear in Hillsborough County Superior Court on August 24, 2018.
