Great Barrington — Police arrested three people Friday night (February 20) after officers reported an altercation they say was the result of a drug deal gone awry. According to the Great Barrington Police Department, at around 11 p.m. Officer Jonathan Finnerty saw a truck without headlights on speeding from the Price Chopper parking lot on to Stockbridge Road. He flashed his high-beams to alert the driver of this, and a moment later saw someone rolling around in the parking lot entrance, who told the officer that he had just been robbed by people in the truck. Officer Finnerty told him to stay there while he pursued the truck northbound on Route 7. He pulled the truck over by Fountain Pond, and found three men in the truck.
Meanwhile, Officer Jason LaForest continued to interview the man who had been robbed in the Price Chopper parking lot, and identified him as William A. Jefferson, 25, of Becket. Police say Jefferson told them that he knew the men in the truck, and as he started to get into the truck with them to go to Pittsfield, one of the men, later identified as 22-year-old Robert Frasca of Otis, grabbed approximately $650 in cash from him. Police reported that Jefferson told them the truck took off while he was still hanging on, and that Frasca continued to punch and kick him to get him off the truck. Jefferson said he fell off the truck just as Officer Finnerty came upon the parking lot.
Police said they had determined that Jefferson had been attempting to sell marijuana to Frasca at the time of the incident, and that Frasca took Jefferson’s marijuana, but did not steal any cash. Police say both men were found in possession of marijuana. The officers also found marijuana that had been thrown from the truck, farther up Stockbridge Road, according to the official report. Frasca and Jefferson were placed under arrest. Also arrested was the driver of the truck, Nicholas Boisvert, 24, of Becket. The third passenger in the truck was the truck’s owner, John S. Bedard, 27, of Huntington, Mass. Bedard was not charged in connection with the incident.
All three defendants were released on $200 bail and charged with numerous counts, including unarmed robbery, assault and battery, and possession of marijuana.
Police from Stockbridge and the Massachusetts State Police in Lee assisted in the arrests and investigation.
