Rhode Island State Police seized $300,000 in cash in a drug bust Sunday in the parking lot of the Super 8 Motel in West Greenwich. The arrests of two people were the result of a two-week undercover operation.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

Three Rhode Island State Police troopers opened fire on a drug suspect Sunday night after an undercover drug investigation involving a large shipment of cocaine went bad in the parking lot of a motel off Route 95 in West Greenwich.

No one was seriously injured in the incident, which took place at 8 p.m. outside the Super 8 Motel, but the state police said one of the suspects may have suffered a minor wound to his left leg. The police said that investigators are trying to determine whether a bullet fragment or broken glass caused the injury.

The state police seized more than $300,000 in cash that the suspects brought to buy 15 kilograms of cocaine that an undercover trooper had agreed to sell them. The estimated street value of the drugs is $1 million.

The shooting and arrests of Manuel Fernandez, 44, of 742 Plainfield St., Providence, and Marco A. Vazquez-Borrego, 47, of El Paso, Texas, were the result of a two-week investigation involving the undercover trooper, who is assigned to the state police Intelligence Unit. The trooper had several meetings with the suspects before Sunday night’s rendezvous in the motel parking lot, the police said.

“They were going to set up shop here in Rhode Island,” said state police Capt. Stephen J. Lynch, commander of the detective division, at a news conference yesterday afternoon. “There was discussion of an additional 40-kilogram deal.”

Once the undercover officer exchanged the cocaine for the cash, a team of more than dozen state troopers moved in for the arrests.

The police said that the suspects tried to escape in a black sport-utility vehicle and they ignored several verbal commands to halt. Lynch said that Fernandez, who was driving, drove the SUV directly at one of the troopers. Two troopers opened fire, each unloading one shot, the police said.

Fernandez drove off through the parking lot until he encountered another police car with more state troopers.

The police said the SUV left the right side of the motel driveway and traveled down a narrow pathway, where it got stuck behind several parked tractor-trailers. Again, the officers approached the SUV and ordered the suspects to climb out of the vehicle.

Lynch said Fernandez was “making furtive movements in the driver’s seat,” and one of the troopers, thinking he may have a gun, fired four shots into the driver’s side door. At that point, the suspects were taken into custody.

Lynch said that what the troopers thought was a gun was actually a cellular phone. He said that the suspects were not armed.

Fernandez was treated for his injury at Kent Hospital before he was turned over to the state police. He and Vazquez-Borrego were charged with possession of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and conspiracy to possess cocaine.

Fernandez also was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon for allegedly driving at one of the troopers.

State police Col. Brendan P. Doherty said that the three officers who discharged their weapons have been placed on administrative duty — according to policy — pending the outcome of an investigation of the shootings by the state attorney general’s office.

“Everyone acted consistent with policy and acted appropriately,” Doherty said. “I’ll be putting them back on full duty soon.”

Doherty said the investigation has revealed that the suspects have ties to a major drug operation in Mexico and were looking to establish themselves as major players in the Rhode Island drug market.

He also said that the alleged drug dealers tried to shortchange the undercover trooper by giving him about $55,000 less than the agreed upon price of $24,000 a kilogram.

“There is no honor among thieves,” he said.

bmalinow@projo.com