A 42-year-old Brooklyn man is facing a stack of felony charges after New York State Police say he led troopers on a high-speed chase through Broome County, tossed suspected narcotics out of his car window, and then intentionally rammed a state police vehicle before he was finally taken into custody near the Town of Windsor.
Ferris Travon Brown was pulled over after troopers with Troop C's Community Stabilization Unit and Violent Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Team spotted a 2026 Chevrolet Trail Blazer traveling westbound at a high rate of speed on State Highway 17/Interstate 86 in the Town of Sanford, according to Newport Dispatch. The observation was made at 5:23 p.m. on Tuesday, and police initiated a traffic stop, but Brown fled once he had initially been stopped, failing to comply as troopers pursued him.
During the pursuit, Brown allegedly threw suspected narcotics out of his vehicle window while traveling recklessly at a high rate of speed through traffic. The chase concluded in the Town of Windsor, where Brown intentionally struck a New York State Police vehicle before he was taken into custody without further incident, the outlet's report states.
What Troopers Say They Found
Troopers recovered approximately 7.2 ounces of suspected fentanyl, along with roughly 3 ounces of mannite and about 1.8 ounces of suspected powder novocain, according to the same account. Mannite, or mannitol, is a sweet sugar alcohol historically sold as a mild laxative that traffickers widely use as a bulking agent to stretch bulk heroin and fentanyl into saleable street quantities, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Novocain, chemically known as procaine, is a synthetic anesthetic often mixed into powder narcotics because its numbing effect can mimic high purity for street-level buyers, per California Detox.
Those cutting agents matter for how Brown is being charged. New York calculates felony drug weight using the state's aggregate weight rule, meaning courts measure the total weight of a drug mixture — including dilutants like mannite and novocain — rather than isolating pure fentanyl, according to a Bronx criminal defense law resource. Under Penal Law § 220.18, possessing four or more ounces of a mixture containing a narcotic drug is enough to trigger a Class A-II felony, per FindLaw. It's worth noting that Utica Phoenix reported that the state police release described the fentanyl, novocain, and mannite as preliminary field identifications, not confirmed by formal crime laboratory testing.
The Full List of Charges
Brown was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree, a Class A-II felony, as well as criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, a Class B felony. He also faces tampering with physical evidence, a Class E felony, and reckless endangerment in the first degree, a Class D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison when conduct creates a grave risk of death showing depraved indifference to human life, according to a legal explainer from Stengel Law.
Rounding out the charges are unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle and criminally using drug paraphernalia, both misdemeanors. Utica Phoenix's report additionally confirmed that no injuries were reported to Brown, the responding troopers, or nearby motorists as a result of the pursuit and the collision with the police vehicle in Windsor.
Processed at SP Binghamton, Held for Arraignment
Brown, who resides in Brooklyn, was processed at SP Binghamton before being turned over to the Broome County Jail, where he was received for centralized arraignment. That process runs through Broome County's Centralized Arraignment Part, a system the county established at its correctional facility in the Town of Dickinson in 2019 under state legislation designed to streamline off-hours court appearances and guarantee legal counsel for suspects arrested in outlying towns like Sanford and Windsor, according to the New York State Assembly.
Troop C, the state police division that led the interdiction, is headquartered in Sidney and covers a seven-county stretch of the Southern Tier through specialized units including the Community Stabilization Unit and the Violent Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Team, per New York State Police. This is not an isolated case for the region: in July, troopers in Broome County stopped a Brooklyn resident on local roadways in a similar interdiction, resulting in three arrests and the seizure of 1.9 ounces of fentanyl, 1.96 ounces of cocaine base, and drug paraphernalia.
Open questions remain about Brown's case, including whether crime lab testing will confirm the field identifications of the fentanyl, novocain, and mannite, and what plea or bail status will follow his arraignment. It's also unclear whether additional charges will be filed specifically over the collision with the state police vehicle.
