Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Brian Lamont Davis, 45, was arrested yesterday after Gainesville police said they saw him selling drugs near Food Max; Davis is currently on probation in two 2025 cases after pleading nolo contendere to drug sales charges.
The arrest happened at about 7:45 p.m. on August 28, while Gainesville Police Department officers were patrolling near Food Max at 1304 E. University Avenue, an area police described as having “an extensive history of violent crimes and open-air narcotics sales.”
According to the arrest report, officers watched Davis engage in several hand-to-hand transactions. In three of them, police said Davis accepted cash from an unidentified man, placed the money in his pocket, and then handed over two or three pills from a bag.
When an officer approached Davis, the officer reported seeing a half-smoked marijuana “blunt” behind his ear and smelling freshly smoked marijuana. The officer also noted that Davis was “visibly shaking.”
Davis reportedly told the officer he had a medical marijuana card and handed over a plastic bag containing about 9.4 grams of marijuana. The officer wrote that Davis does have a valid medical marijuana card, but the bag was not labeled as prescription medical marijuana.
Citing the hand-to-hand transactions they had observed, officers conducted a probable-cause search of Davis and reportedly found about 3.1 grams of marijuana in a bag in his pocket. As officers tried to handcuff him, Davis allegedly tensed up, attempted to pull away, and reached toward his underwear.
After Davis was handcuffed, officers searched him incident to arrest and reportedly found a bag tucked into his underwear containing about 55 ecstasy tablets and approximately 2.6 grams of crack cocaine.
Post Miranda, Davis reportedly said he uses drugs but does not sell them, and he said he did not know there were any narcotics on his person.
The officer noted that ecstasy/MDMA users typically only purchase a few tablets at a time, and a crack cocaine user typically has a crack pipe, but Davis did not have a crack pipe, and he had a large number of ecstasy tablets; he was also allegedly observed conducting hand-to-hand transactions.
Davis has been charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, and resisting an officer without violence. He has 17 felony convictions (non-violent) and 12 misdemeanor convictions (non-violent) and has served five state prison sentences, with his most recent release in January 2025. He is on probation in two cases for selling drugs; he was arrested in March 2026 for selling drugs, but those charges were later dropped, with FDLE sealing the records in that case a few days later. His probation officer filed a violation of probation report after the arrest, but the affidavit was dismissed after the charges were dropped.
Judge Susanne Wilson Bullard set bail at $65,000 on the new charges and ordered him held without bail until the probation violation case is resolved.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
