by Neil W. McCabe

A cyclist matching the description of the thief who handed a note threatening employees at the Davis Square Brooks Pharmacy with explosives, and was given a bag of powerful painkillers and other drugs was arrested by Somerville police officers Sept. 26 on Hollis Street in North Cambridge at around 9 a.m., less than 50 feet from his home at 1 Hollis Park.

Along with the stolen drugs, officers found the note in the bag carried by the arrested man, Kevin O’Brien, which read: “Give me all of your painkillers, percs, oxycontin + valium–quickly no one gets hurt. No alarms or they’ll [sic] be an explosion.”

A Brooks employee, the pharmacist, who witnessed the robbery, rode with one of the four cruisers and made positive identification of both O’Brien and the contents of the bag, according to report submitted by Officer Sean Sheehan, the arresting officer. A tape from the store’s security cameras show the crime and a man who looked to the officer to be O’Brien.

Sheehan said he was told by the store’s pharmacist that the thief handed went to the back of the store and handed the pharmacist the threatening note. The pharmacist then handed the thief several bottles of controlled substances. After the thief left the store, the pharmarcist dialed 911.

When Sheehan arrived, he said he was told that the thief had left on bike down Grove Street towards Cambridge. With the pharmacist in the back of his cruiser, Sheehan proceeded through the back streets of the Davis Square neighborhood towards Massachusetts Avenue. His lights were on, but there were no sirens.

As he drove across Mass. Ave. onto Rindge Avenue, both Sheehan and the pharmacist saw the O’Brien on Rindge heading towards Route 16, who fit the description of the man who robbed the Brooks, he Sheehan said. Three other Somerville black and whites joined Sheehan in the pursuit. Officer Irving had followed Sheehan down Rindge and assisted in the apprehension.

After following the cyclist onto Hollis Street, Sheehan said he ordered him to stop and lie on the ground, and O’Brien complied. As the officers approached O’Brien they demanded to know if he was armed. He said he was not.

“I am very uncomfortable,” O’Brien said to Sheehan as the cuffs were applied.

“I don’t really care if you are comfortable,” the officer said in reply.

The subsquent search of O’Brien produced the Brooks shopping bag with the pills and the note inside his jacket. Irving brought the items to the pharmacist, who stayed in the back of Sheehan’s cruiser and made a positive identification of the bag, its contents and O’Brien.