GUNPOINT DETENTION NOT JUSTIFIED, SEIZED EVIDENCE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED.
The Fourth Department determined the gunpoint detention of defendant was not justified by what the officer knew or observed. The motion to suppress the seized marijuana and handgun should have been granted:
The People concede that the sergeant’s encounter with defendant constituted a level three forcible detention under People v De Bour …, and thus required “a reasonable suspicion that [defendant] was involved in a felony or misdemeanor” … . “[A]ctions that are at all times innocuous and readily susceptible of an innocent interpretation . . . may not generate a founded suspicion of criminality” … .
We agree with defendant that the arresting sergeant lacked the requisite reasonable suspicion. There is no evidence in the record that the sergeant was informed of the recovery of marihuana in the area the day before defendant’s arrest, and defendant’s actions in merely “grabbing” at his waistline and bending down to the floor of the vehicle, without more, were insufficient to provide the sergeant with the requisite suspicion that defendant committed a crime, and to justify defendant’s gunpoint detention … . People v Elliott, 2016 NY Slip Op 04838, 4th Dept 6-17-16
CRIMINAL LAW (GUNPOINT DETENTION NOT JUSTIFIED, SEIZED EVIDENCE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED)/EVIDENCE (CRIMINAL LAW, GUNPOINT DETENTION NOT JUSTIFIED, SEIZED EVIDENCE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED)/SUPPRESSION (CRIMINAL LAW, GUNPOINT DETENTION NOT JUSTIFIED, SEIZED EVIDENCE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED)