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THE PURSUIT OF DEFENDANT WAS NOT JUSTIFIED AND DEFENDANT’S DISCARDING THE HANDGUN WAS IN RESPONSE TO POLICE ILLEGALITY, THE HANDGUN WAS NOT ABANDONED AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, vacating the guilty plea and dismissing the indictment, determined the handgun discarded by the defendant during a police chase should have been suppressed. The police were responding to information that a black male had discharged a weapon. There were several black males in the area and nothing indicated defendant was involved in criminal activity. The defendant did not abandon the weapon because it was discarded in response to police illegality:

… [T]he officer’s action of pursuing defendant in response to his flight was not justified at its inception inasmuch as there were no specific circumstances indicating that defendant may have been engaged in criminal activity so as to give rise to reasonable suspicion … . Although the officer observed defendant walking in the general vicinity of the reported gun shots, that observation does not provide the “requisite reasonable suspicion, in the absence of other objective indicia of criminality’ ” that would justify pursuit, and no such evidence was presented at the suppression hearing … . In the absence of other identifying information, the fact that defendant may have matched the vague, generic description of the suspect as a black male, which could have applied to any number of individuals in the area of the large apartment complex with hundreds of residents, did not sufficiently indicate that defendant may have been engaged in criminal activity … . Thus, the pursuit of defendant was unlawful. * * *

… [D]defendant’s act of discarding the handgun was “spontaneous and precipitated by the unlawful pursuit by the police” and, therefore, the handgun should have been suppressed … . People v Jones, 2019 NY Slip Op 05940, Fourth Dept 7-31-19

 

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