BOSTON, July 5, 2012—Massachusetts State Police seized a Jamaica Plain man’s handgun and his license to carry it after he allegedly tried to flee a motor vehicle accident while intoxicated, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

SCOTT M. DEVLIN (D.O.B. 11/30/83), who also has an address in Fairhaven, was arraigned today in Roxbury District Court on a single count of carrying a loaded firearm while under the influence of liquor, a misdemeanor punishable by up to two and a half years in a house of correction. Prosecutors recommended bail of $500 and Judge David Poole released him on his own recognizance.

Devlin is believed to have been a passenger in a friend’s Ford F150 when it collided with a parked vehicle on Park Drive just after midnight this morning. Passersby called State Police to report that the two occupants had left the scene on foot after the crash, and Boston Police soon apprehended two people matching those suspects’ descriptions.

State troopers conducted a show-up identification in which the witnesses positively identified Devlin and the second man – CHRISTOPHER WHITESELL, whom they said was the
driver – as the men who had run from the scene. Whitesell will be summonsed to court on charges of leaving the scene of an accident causing property damage.

Boston Police had already ascertained that Devlin possessed a Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm semiautomatic handgun in his backpack. Devlin owned the firearm and had a valid license to carry it. While speaking to him, troopers noticed that he had the strong smell of alcohol on his breath, that he was unsteady on his feet, and that his speech was slurred. Based on that evidence of intoxication, they placed Devlin under arrest. They also took custody of the bag containing his handgun as well as his license to carry it.

Back at the Boston barracks, Devlin allegedly said repeatedly that he didn’t know where he was or why he was in custody. When informed again of the charge against him, he allegedly insisted he was not drunk. When troopers offered him the opportunity to take a Breathalyzer test, he allegedly declined.

Devlin will return to court Sept. 11.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.