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ANONYMOUS 911 CALL COUPLED WITH POLICE OFFICER’S OBSERVATIONS PROVIDED REASONABLE SUSPICION JUSTIFYING DETENTION OF THE DEFENDANT.

The Fourth Department determined an anonymous 911 call combined with the police officer’s observations provided the officer with reasonable suspicion defendant had a weapon, justifying detention of the defendant:

 

Although “a radioed tip may have almost no legal significance when it stands alone, . . . when considered in conjunction with other supportive facts, it may thus collectively, although not independently, support a reasonable suspicion justifying intrusive police action” … . Here … that “additional support can … be provided by factors rapidly developing or observed at the scene” … . The evidence at the hearing established that ” the report of the 911 caller was based on the contemporaneous observation of conduct that was not concealed’ ” … . Upon the officer’s arrival, defendant was positioned at a bladed angle toward the officer with his hand in his waistband or sweatshirt pocket, ” common sanctuar[ies] for weapons’ ” … . …

“A police officer directed to a location by a general radio call cannot reasonably be instructed to close his eyes to reality—neither the officer nor justice should be that blind. The officer was rightfully and dutifully on the scene and could not ignore possible indications of criminality, nor is there any logical reason for him to reject the natural mental connection between newly encountered facts and the substance of the radio message. More importantly, there certainly is no justification for holding that an officer in such a situation cannot take note of a significant occurrence indicating a possible threat to his life, merely because the call which directed him to the scene was in and of itself an insufficient predicate for intrusive action against a particular person” … . In accordance with Court of Appeals’ precedent, we conclude that “it would be unrealistic to require [the responding officer], who had been told that [a] gunm[a]n might be present, to assume the risk that the defendant’s conduct was in fact innocuous or innocent. Such an assumption would be at odds with his reasonably acquired belief that he was in danger and his constitutionally authorized action . . . It would, indeed, be absurd to suggest that a police officer has to await the glint of steel before he can act to preserve his safety” … . People v Williams, 2016 NY Slip Op 00789, 4th Dept 2-5-16

 

CRIMINAL LAW (STATEMENTS AFTER ILLEGAL ARREST NOT SUPPRESSIBLE IF SUFFICIENTLY ATTENUATED)/EVIDENCE (STATEMENTS AFTER ILLEGAL ARREST NOT SUPPRESSIBLE IF SUFFICIENTLY ATTENUATED)/SUPPRESSION (STATEMENTS AFTER ILLEGAL ARREST NOT SUPPRESSIBLE IF SUFFICIENTLY ATTENUATED)

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