Fall River man arrested for texting and driving

FALL RIVER (WBSM) – A Fall River man previously arrested on drug charges was rearrested on drug and other charges after he was allegedly caught texting while driving.

According to Massachusetts State Police, officers from the Dartmouth Barracks conducted traffic stops in Fall River in the early morning hours of May 1st.

Trooper Stelvio Neto, a recent graduate of trooper training, observed a Nissan SUV being driven by a man “holding his phone in front of him, illuminating his face in the darkness of the early morning hours,” state police said.

Officers stopped the vehicle and learned that the driver, Michael Couto, 55, of Fall River, had a suspended license. He was removed from the vehicle, handcuffed and searched.

State police said troopers found him “in possession of a golf ball-sized bag of fentanyl and a smaller bag of crack cocaine.”

A search of the Nissan Couto he was driving also allegedly found a backpack containing numerous individually bundled packets of fentanyl and a stun gun. State police said Couto did not have a license to use the stun gun.

According to state police, the drugs included approximately 79 grams of fentanyl and eight grams of crack cocaine.