New Bedford Drunk Driving Arrest Leads to Gun Charges

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — New Bedford Police arrested a Providence man on drunk driving and gun charges.

Police said that on April 14 at around 3 a.m., officers investigated a vehicle they said was driving erratically on Norwell Street and then proceeded to stop.

Eliezer Melero, 27, of Providence, was operating the vehicle. A female passenger was also with him.

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Police said Melero showed signs of intoxication as he allegedly refused repeated commands to show his license and to exit the car. After a brief struggle ensued, officers said they discovered Melero had a firearm near his feet on the floor. He was then taken into custody.

Officers secured the gun, which was found to be a Glock 17 pistol with no serial number.

According to police, Melero had a blood alcohol level of .16, twice the legal limit.

He was charged with a variety of offenses including drunk driving, failure to submit to police, restraining arrest, and unlawful possession of high-capacity firearm possession in Rhode Island.

Crime Rate Statistics in SouthCoast Towns

Here are the crime rate statistics for SouthCoast communities, utilizing data from 2022, the most recent year available. Annual data is from the Massachusetts Crime Statistics. The number of crimes is a data collection of total arrests, DUI/OUI charges, violent crimes, and hate crimes. The clearance rate is the number of charged crimes divided by the total number of crimes recorded. We listed the SouthCoast towns alphabetically.

Gallery Credit: Ariel Dorsey