Traffic stop for defective taillights leads to drugs, weapons arrest

GRAND ISLAND, NE — A Grand Island man faces more than 10 criminal charges following a simple traffic stop.

Grand Island Police say officers saw an SUV driving with non-functioning taillights just after midnight Saturday morning. They stopped the vehicle and 41-year-old Sergio Lopez-Perez got out. Officers say a meth pipe fell out when he exited the vehicle and he refused numerous commands to get back in the SUV.

Police say officers searched the car and found a gun with a defaced serial number, a nearly foot-long knife, more than an ounce of marijuana and two open liquor containers. Lopez-Perez is a multi-state convicted felon and isn’t allowed to have weapons.

Police say Lopez-Perez didn’t have a valid driver’s license or proof of insurance and couldn’t prove he owned the vehicle.

He is lodged in the Hall County Jail and faces 13 charges.