Two arrested after traffic stop in Taunton escalates, draws crowd outside laundromat

TAUNTON — On Tuesday, February 3, 2026, at approximately 8:10 p.m., Officer Denzel Santos of the Taunton Police Department was on patrol when he observed a dark-colored pickup truck with Massachusetts plates traveling on Taunton Green and then Winthrop Street, which he said are both public roadways owned and maintained by the City of Taunton.

(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Denzel Santos and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)

“The vehicle had no plate lights working, making it extremely difficult to read the license plate,” Officer Santos said. “I had to pull up extremely close to the pickup truck in order to be able to read the license plate. When the vehicle came to a stop, I watched it hit a snowbank.”

Officer Santos said that after the vehicle stopped, it rocked from side-to-side which indicated that the occupants were clearly moving inside the vehicle.

“They were moving around so forcibly that it was causing the vehicle to rock,” Officer Santos said. “Upon my observation, I immediately approached the passenger side of the vehicle, opened the door and gave a verbal command for the occupants to show me their hands and step out of the vehicle. It should be noted that I was by myself and outnumbered two to one. I did not know the reason for why the occupants were moving so forcibly, so I wanted them out of the vehicle where they are unable to reach for any potential weapons in the vehicle.”

Officer Santos added that multiple items inside the vehicle could be used as weapons, including hammers and wrenches, and that the driver was in possession of a folding knife.

“The passenger, later identified as Paulo Martins, the registered owner of the vehicle, was extremely confrontational and had to be told numerous times to step out of the vehicle,” Officer Santos said.

According to police, Paulo Sa Martins, 40, is a resident of Taunton, MA.

Officer Santos said that once Martins decided to listen to his commands, he stepped outside of the vehicle and asked what he was being detained for.

“By this point, I had explained everything to Martins to include the reason for the motor vehicle stop and the reason why I felt it was safer for the stop to continue with everyone out of the vehicle,” Officer Santos said. “Martins was not being reasonable and would repeatedly yell over me and not listen to what I was instructing him to do. Martins would also continue to state, ‘I’m moving, I’m not dead.’”

Officer Santos stated that Martins continued to yell over him and move around despite repeated instructions not to do so.

“I kept trying to de-escalate Martins by explaining my actions and telling him to just stop,” Officer Santos said, adding that Martins’ continued yelling made it extremely difficult for him to proceed with the motor vehicle stop.

“Officer [Jessica] Waitz later arrived on scene and also attempted to de-escalate Martins,” Officer Santos said. “The operator of the vehicle, later identified as Kevin Brown also tried to de-escalate Martins by telling him to ‘relax’ and to ‘knock it off.’ All efforts and attempts to de-escalate Martins failed as he kept yelling and berating me, at one point calling me ‘a piece of $h*t.’”

Officer Santos stated that Martins’ behavior prompted multiple individuals to exit the E-Z Clean Laundry Center and watch.

“On my body camera two people could be seen at the entry/exit way of the laundry center, looking in Martins’ direction,” Officer Santos said. “Not seen on body camera, off to the other entrance/exit way, was another two individuals watching/listening to Martins behavior.”

Officer Santos stated that Martins was ultimately handcuffed and informed that he was under arrest for disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace.

“Using the CJIS [Criminal Justice Information Services] database, I was able to see that Brown’s license to operate а motor vehicle in Massachusetts was suspended,” Officer Santos said. “Brown would also be placed in handcuffs and would be advised that he was being placed under arrest for driving on a suspended license. Browns’ citation was issued and placed in his property at booking.”

Martins was arraigned in Taunton District Court on Feb. 4, 2026. Martins’ next court date is a pretrial hearing scheduled for March 13, 2026. (Please note that the public records request obtained by News Link Live for the incident did not include court dates for Brown.)

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Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the arrest in this story took place earlier this month, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.

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