Simple traffic stop turns into drug bust

It started as the usual attempt to make a simple traffic stop on Interstate 10 Monday afternoon and ended in a three-car crash with two arrested and 150 pounds of marijuana now in police custody.

According to Tempe Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Carbajal, it all began when the Department of Public Safety attempted to pull over a vehicle westbound on I-10 near Ray Road. The DPS officer backed off when the car didn’t stop and the suspect’s vehicle exited the freeway at Warner Road.

Carbajal said it was heading into Tempe when the driver ran a red light and then tried to make a right turn from the left-hand lane, hitting two cars.

The two occupants of the vehicle, Robert Bruce Adams Jr., 23, and Rafael Ramiro Gracia, 35, both from Tucson, then fled on foot.

Carbajal said the Tempe officers, assisted by a Phoenix K-9, searched for the two and eventually apprehended both.

Inside the trunk of the suspect’s vehicle officers found the marijuana, valued at $75,000.

Both men were booked into jail for possession of marijuana for sale and transportation of marijuana for sale.