Dominic Peterson Lewiston Police Department

LEWISTON — Two men were arrested early Thursday morning after a traffic stop on Bates Street.

Police said that after stopping the car shortly after midnight, one man bolted from the vehicle and fled on foot, prompting a foot chase.

The suspect was captured roughly a block away, police said, but refused to identify himself. A search of the man’s backpack revealed a 45 caliber, 1911-style handgun with a serial number that had been obliterated.

Police detained the man and ultimately identified him as Dominic Peterson, 23, of Brockton, Massachusetts. He was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, refusing to submit to arrest, falsifying physical evidence and criminal simulation.

Local police became familiar with Peterson after arresting him under similar circumstances in April. In that incident, Peterson was arrested after local and federal police coordinated a traffic stop on Pleasant Street in search of a man wanted in connection with a slaying in Brockton a week earlier.

The homicide suspect, 20-year-old Jeremiah Abreu, was captured in that stop and ultimately returned to Massachusetts for prosecution. Peterson, found riding in the car with Abreu, was also arrested. He was charged at that time with illegal possession of a firearm, failing to provide correct name and date of birth and being a fugitive from justice.

Mohamud Duale Lewiston Police Department

Meanwhile, on Bates Street on Thursday morning, police were attempting to identify several other occupants of the vehicle they had stopped when a second man bolted on foot and led police on a chase.

That pursuit also ended quickly, and the suspect was identified as Mohamud Duale, 25, of 119 Pierce St., Lewiston, who was charged with refusing to submit to arrest, refusing to provide correct name and date of birth, and violating conditions of release.

Duale’s address was not listed.

Both men were taken to the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.