Two Dorchester men are in custody on gun charges and a variety of other offenses after allegedly leading Boston Police on a motor vehicle chase during which they tossed two handguns from car, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

NORBERTO BARRETO (D.O.B. 5/27/80) and ARKIE SWINSON (D.O.B. 11/11/80) were arraigned today in Roxbury District Court on two counts each of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Because of a 2005 gun conviction, Barreto is charged as a second or subsequent offender; because of a 2009 drug distribution conviction, Swinson is charged as an armed career criminal.

Assistant District Attorney Andrius Knasas recommended that Barreto be held on $30,000 cash bail and Swinson on $25,000. Roxbury District Court Judge Pamela Dashiell set both men’s bails at $10,000. At Knasas’ request, she revoked Swinson’s bail on an open assault case and ordered both men to stay away from one another while the case is open.

Boston Police were monitoring the area of Cheney Street on Friday morning after community complaints regarding gang and drug activity. At about 9:15 a.m., they saw the two defendants drive up in Barreto’s 1992 Honda Accord, watched as a young man on the street approached the car and dropped something in the passenger’s side window, and observed the car drive off.

Officers followed the car in the belief that a drug transaction had been made, and they stopped the vehicle on Seaver Street. As officers approached the car, Barreto allegedly moved to trhe right within the driver’s seat and reached over to the passenger’s area; when the officers reached the car, Swinson put his right hand in his pants pocket and had his left hand tight against his waistband.

When the officers ordered Swinson to show his hands, Swinson allegedly refused. The officers began to take Swinson from the car when Swinson allegedly punched one of them and yelled to his compatriot.
“Go, go, go!” he allegedly yelled.

Both officers were struck by the car as it sped off toward Maple Street, but neither one was injured.
The defendants raced the wrong way down Maple Street and turned onto Wayne Street. They led officers along Blue Hill Avenue and Castlegate Road – again traveling in the wrong direction – and Supple Street. Officers briefly lost sight of the Accura but eventually stopped it on Nazing Street.

Swinson allegedly told the officers at that time that they had fled because they’d had two ounces of marijuana, which they threw from the car during the pursuit.

Boston Police deployed two ballistic-sniffing dogs to the area. One canine hit on the area between the front driver’s seat and the center console near where Barreto had been seen reaching just after the car was stopped, but no firearm was recovered from that area.

Officers began to retrace the vehicle’s path of flight, and a second canine hit on a 9mm semiautomatic Hi-Point Luger near the corner of Nazing and Maple streets. A short time later, police received a call for a found firearm on Supple Street: that firearm was also a 9mm semiautomatic Hi-Point Luger. Both firearms were free of dirt, debris, and sediment that would have suggested they had been lying in the open for an extended period of time.

Attorney Randy Gioia represents Barreto and attorney Earl Howard represents Swinson. Both defendants will return to court on Sept. 13.