Fall River man arrested after Westport, Fall River, police chase, standoff involving knife

A Fall River man was arrested by police this morning after a police chase and an incident involving a knife.

According to Detective Sergeant Christopher Dunn of the Westport Police Department, Officer Jeremy Dellecese was on patrol this morning in the vicinity of Old County Road when he observed a Nissan Frontier pickup operating in the area. The vehicle was previously observed operating in the area during the early morning hours and Officer Dellecese witnessed that the registered owner was not driving the vehicle.

Additional checks into the registered owner of the vehicle revealed two police reports by the Fall River Police Department. Those incidents identified the operator of the vehicle to be the owner’s son, Jamie Melo, 39, of Winthrop Street in Fall River. Officer Dellecese also found Melo had an active warrant for his arrest where he fled from the Fall River Police on February 28, 2020.

At approximately 2:00 a.m., Officer Dellecese observed the Frontier driving eastbound on Old County Road. He attempted to conduct a motor vehicle stop, however, the vehicle quickly turned around in the driveway of a home located in the area and accelerated west on Old County Road. Melo then entered Route 88 northbound at a high rate of speed when Officer Dellecese notified other officers. Sergeant Bryan McCarthy took a post at the intersection at Route 88 and Briggs Road where he deployed “Stop Sticks” as the vehicle passed through the intersection. As a result, both front tires were deflated, but that didn’t stop Melo as he continued onto Route 195 west. The Massachusetts State Police and Fall River Police joined the pursuit as Melo continued into Fall River and eventually came to rest in the driveway of Melo’s home in Fall River.

Officer Dellecese approached Melo and observed him sit up after reaching beneath the seat with a black knife in his right hand. At that point, Officer Dellecese immediately deployed a taser. Although the deployment was successful, Melo was able to maintain control of the knife and placed it to his own neck while still seated in the vehicle, according to Dunn.

While Melo had the knife to his neck, Fall River Police Sergeant Brett Kimball and Officer Paul Furtado stated they they knew Melo and began negotiating with him to put the knife down. After approximately fifteen minutes, the Fall River Police were able to successfully convince Melo to drop the knife and he was taken into custody.

Melo was transported to Saint Anne’s Hospital for evaluation and was released. He was then transported to Bristol County House of Correction.