DESCRIPTION OF CLOTHES WORN BY THE SUSPECT DID NOT MATCH THE CLOTHES WORN BY THE MAN OBSERVED BY THE POLICE, THE STOP OF THE CAR THE MAN GOT INTO WAS NOT JUSTIFIED BY REASONABLE SUSPICION OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY, SEIZED WEAPONS SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED.

The Fourth Department, reversing defendant’s conviction, determined the stop of defendant’s car was not supported by reasonable suspicion and the weapons seized should have been suppressed. The officer stopped the car after he saw an Hispanic man with tattoos on his neck get into the car. The shooting suspect the police were looking for at the time of the stop was an Hispanic man with tattoos on his neck. However, the clothing worn by the man who got into the car did not come close to matching the clothes the shooting suspect was said to be wearing. It turned out that the shooting suspect was also in the stopped car:

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… [T]he inconsistencies between the suspect’s clothing as described by the complainant and the clothing worn by the man who walked past the officer on North Goodman Street rendered the officer’s suspicion that the man was the suspect less than reasonable… . Contrary to the People’s contention, moreover, we conclude that the man’s conduct in staring straight ahead as he walked among the police cars was “innocuous and readily susceptible of an innocent interpretation” and, as such, did not generate a reasonable suspicion of criminality … .

Given that the stop of defendant’s vehicle was not supported by a reasonable suspicion of criminality, the officer’s observation of the actual suspect in the front seat with a weapon in his waistband was “the unattenuated by-product of the [illegal] stop” …  and, inasmuch as the disposal of the weapons during the ensuing chase was precipitated by that illegality, the weapons should have been suppressed … . In addition, because our determination results in the suppression of all evidence supporting the crimes charged, the indictment must be dismissed … . People v Lopez, 2017 NY Slip Op 03327, 4th Dept 4-28-17

 

CRIMINAL LAW (DESCRIPTION OF CLOTHES WORN BY THE SUSPECT DID NOT MATCH THE CLOTHES WORN BY THE MAN OBSERVED BY THE POLICE, THE STOP OF THE CAR THE MAN GOT INTO WAS NOT JUSTIFIED BY REASONABLE SUSPICION OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY, SEIZED WEAPONS SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED)/STREET STOPS  (DESCRIPTION OF CLOTHES WORN BY THE SUSPECT DID NOT MATCH THE CLOTHES WORN BY THE MAN OBSERVED BY THE POLICE, THE STOP OF THE CAR THE MAN GOT INTO WAS NOT JUSTIFIED BY REASONABLE SUSPICION OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY, SEIZED WEAPONS SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED/SUPPRESS, MOTION TO (DESCRIPTION OF CLOTHES WORN BY THE SUSPECT DID NOT MATCH THE CLOTHES WORN BY THE MAN OBSERVED BY THE POLICE, THE STOP OF THE CAR THE MAN GOT INTO WAS NOT JUSTIFIED BY REASONABLE SUSPICION OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY, SEIZED WEAPONS SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED)