CLINTON — On Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, at approximately 8:34 p.m., Officer Kristopher Vazquez of the Clinton Police Department was on patrol when he observed a blue Toyota Corolla fail to stop at a stop sign while traveling outbound on Sterling Street at its intersection with Greeley Street.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Kristopher Vazquez and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
Officer Vazquez said he activated the emergency blue lights on his cruiser to pull the Corolla over.
“Upon activating my blue lights, my attention was immediately drawn to the operator of the Corolla,” Officer Vazquez said. “His head turned towards me, his eyes widened with a nervous surprise, and I could see him mouth the words, ‘Oh, sh*t!'”
The vehicle came to a stop near the Sterling Street Brewery, which is located at 175 Sterling Street.
“The 2020 Corolla bore Massachusetts Registration [# redacted] and was occupied by the driver and front seat passenger,” Officer Vazquez said. “I noticed that both occupants began moving about in the vehicle. It appeared that the driver was reaching towards the glove box area, while the passenger seemed to lift his hips from the seat.”
Officer Vazquez said he approached the driver’s side of the vehicle and made contact with the driver, who identified himself as a 34-year-old named Zachary.
“While at the driver’s side window, I was overwhelmed with the odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from the vehicle’s passenger compartment,” Officer Vazquez said. “After receiving Zachary’s license and registration paperwork, I began walking back to my cruiser. As I passed the rear driver’s side window of the Corolla, I observed a lone 12-fluid-ounce Modelo beer bottle loose on the floor behind the front passenger seat.”
When Officer Vazquez made it back to his cruiser, he called dispatch and requested backup to assist him with the stop.
“After Patrolman Shane Gilman arrived on scene, he approached the passenger’s side of the vehicle and began speaking with the occupants,” Officer Vazquez said. “Shortly after, Patrolman Gilman notified me that there was an open Hennessy bottle at the feet of the front seat passenger. Patrolman Gilman explained to me that the passenger admitted that the bottle belonged to him.”
The passenger was identified as 28-year-old Nigel Lopez.
“Upon reapproaching the vehicle, Nigel showed me the 375 ml Hennessy bottle, which was almost empty, and admitted that it belonged to him,” Officer Vazquez said.
After Officer Matthew Champagne arrived on scene, Lopez was removed from the vehicle and directed to stand near the trunk of the Corolla, Officer Vazquez said.
“While retrieving the open Hennessy bottle from the passenger’s side floorboard, I observed a green fanny pack on the seat where Nigel was sitting,” Officer Vazquez said. “Zachary denied that the bag was his. I asked Nigel if the bag was his and if he wanted it. He replied, ‘yes.’ After securing the bottle and Nigel’s property, Nigel was handcuffed (DL) [double locked] by me.”
While handcuffing Lopez, Officer Vazquez said Officer Gilman searched a green bag and informed him that it contained illicit drugs and a scale.
Officer Vazquez then transported Lopez to the Clinton Police Department for booking.
While performing an inventory of Lopez’s property at the station, police located a clear plastic bag tied tightly around a white powdery substance, a scale, an empty clear plastic bag, and $735.25 in cash.
“Based on my training and experience, I knew the white powdery substance to be cocaine,” Officer Vazquez said. “After being read his Miranda rights, Nigel confirmed the substance to be cocaine.”
Using the department’s scale, Officer Vazquez determined that there was 5 grams of cocaine.
“Based on my training and experience, I know that drug dealers commonly use scales to weigh products prior to distribution,” Officer Vazquez said. “The scale was dusted with cannabis residue. Upon close inspection, I could see that there was also a very small amount of what appeared to be cocaine residue on the scale’s surface. Upon asking Nigel how long he’s been selling coke, he replied, ‘I use the scale to see what I’m getting.’ This confirmed my suspicion that the very small amount of residue on the scale was indeed cocaine.”
Officer Vazquez said the empty, clear plastic bag was wrinkled, with pieces torn from it, consistent with someone twisting or wrapping items inside the bag and pulling off small portions.
“Based on my training and experience, I know that drug dealers will use very small amounts of clear plastic to wrap pre-determined portions of drugs that they intend to distribute,” Officer Vazquez said. “Dealers will often twist the end of the bag to seal the portioned drugs inside.”
In addition, Officer Vazquez noted that drug dealers often carry large amounts of cash in various denominations on their person.
“This is partly due to drug buyers paying the distributor in large bills, and partly so that the distributor can provide change to his customers,” Officer Vazquez explained. “The $735.25 that Nigel had on his person consisted of multiple $100-dollar bills, multiple $20-dollar bills, a $10-dollar bill, multiple $1-dollar bills, and a quarter.”
Nigel E. Lopez was arrested and charged with the following:
- Possession of a Class B substance
- Possession of a Class B substance with intent to distribute
- Town bylaw violation — Possession of an open container of alcohol
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the arrest in this story took place in October, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.
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