You are here: / / AFTER A TRAFFIC STOP AND A FOOT CHASE DEFENDANT WAS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY;...
,

AFTER A TRAFFIC STOP AND A FOOT CHASE DEFENDANT WAS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY; NOTHING THE DEPUTY HAD SEEN AT THAT POINT PROVIDED PROBABLE CAUSE TO SEARCH THE DEFENDANT’S CAR; AFTER OPENING THE CAR DOOR AND SMELLING MARIJUANA THE DEPUTY CONDUCTED A WARRANTLESS SEARCH; THE DRUGS AND WEAPON SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED (FOURTH DEPT)

The Fourth Department, reversing defendant’s conviction and dismissing the indictment, determined the deputy did not have probable cause for a warrantless search of defendant’s car and the drugs and weapon found in the car should have been suppressed. The deputy initiated a traffic stop because defendant allegedly made a turn without signaling. The defendant told the deputy he could not roll down his window or open the driver side door. After making “furtive” movements inside the car, the defendant opened the passenger side door and fled. The deputy chased defendant and took him into custody. When asked why he ran, defendant said there was a warrant for his address. The deputy returned to defendant’s car, opened the door, smelled marijuana and searched the car. The Fourth Department found that nothing the deputy had seen prior to his opening the car door provided probable cause for the search:

Under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, “a search conducted without a warrant issued by an impartial Magistrate is per se unreasonable unless one of the established exceptions applies” … . “One such exception is the so-called automobile exception’, under which State actors may search a vehicle without a warrant when they have probable cause to believe that evidence or contraband will be found there” … . Applying our State Constitution, the Court of Appeals has held that when police want to search a vehicle at the time they arrest its occupant, “the police must… not only have probable cause to search the vehicle but . . . there must also be a nexus between the arrest and the probable cause to search” … . “[T]he requirement of a connection” between “the probable cause to search and the crime for which the arrest is being made” is “flexible” inasmuch as a court need not focus “solely on the crimes for which a defendant was formally arrested” … . “[T]he proper inquiry is simply whether the circumstances gave the officer probable cause to search the vehicle” … . When police officers stop a vehicle, they may have probable cause to search the vehicle under the automobile exception based “on grounds other than those that initially prompted [the officers] to stop the vehicle,” i.e., the probable cause may come to light after the stop… . …

Although defendant engaged in “furtive and suspicious activity” and his “pattern of behavior, viewed as a whole” was suspicious … , there was no direct nexus between the initial traffic stop for a traffic violation and the search of defendant’s vehicle. Furthermore, there was no direct nexus between the arrest of defendant and the search of his vehicle. Defendant made no statements to suggest that the vehicle contained contraband or evidence of a crime … , the deputy did not observe any contraband in plain view , the deputy did not find any contraband on defendant’s person when he took defendant into custody … , and it cannot be said that defendant’s “furtive movements” toward the center console lacked any innocent explanation or occurred under circumstances suggesting that criminal activity was afoot … . People v Johnson, 2020 NY Slip Op 02589, Fourth Dept 5-1-20

 

You might also like
ALTHOUGH PLAINTIFF POSITIONED THE SCAFFOLD SUCH THAT IT TIPPED WHEN A WHEEL WENT THROUGH A HOLE IN A DRAIN GRATE, HE WAS ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON HIS LABOR LAW 240 (1) CAUSE OF ACTION (FOURTH DEPT).
No Right to Counsel in Presentence Interview.
Child’s Unemancipated Status Was Revived Entitling Father to Child Support
APPLICATION TO FILE A LATE CLAIM IN THIS LABOR LAW 240 (1) ACTION SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED; CRITERIA FOR ACCEPTING A LATE CLAIM UNDER THE COURT OF CLAIMS ACT DESCRIBED (FOURTH DEPT).
THE TRIAL JUDGE RESERVED DECISION ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR A TRIAL ORDER OF DISMISSAL ON THE RESISTING ARREST CHARGE AND DID NOT RULE ON IT AFTER CONVICTION, ON APPEAL THE FAILURE TO RULE CANNOT BE CONSIDERED A DENIAL, MATTER REMITTED FOR A RULING (FOURTH DEPT).
Police Did Not Demonstrate They Had a “Founded Suspicion Criminality Was Afoot” Before Asking For and Receiving Defendant’s Permission to Search His Car
IN THIS DRUG OFFENSE TRIAL, COURT SHOULD NOT HAVE ALLOWED IMPEACHMENT OF DEFENDANT WITH EVIDENCE OF PRIOR DRUG-RELATED CONVICTIONS.
DEFENDANT’S ALLEGED FAILURE TO MAINTAIN ITS TRUCK LED TO AN ACCIDENT IN WHICH A VAN DRIVEN BY PLAINTIFF’S EMPLOYEE STRUCK DEFENDANT’S EMPLOYEE; A LAWSUIT BY DEFENDANT’S EMPLOYEE AGAINST PLAINTIFF CULMINATED IN A $900,000 SETTLEMENT; PLAINTIFF ALLEGED THE RESULTING INCREASED INSURANCE PREMIUMS FORCED PLAINTIFF OUT OF BUSINESS; THE LOSS OF PLAINTIFF’S BUSINESS WAS NOT A FORESEEABLE CONSEQUENCE OF DEFENDANT’S ALLEGED FAILURE TO MAINTAIN ITS TRUCK (FOURTH DEPT).

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2025 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

THE EVIDENCE SUBMITTED TO THE GRAND JURY IN THIS DRUNK-DRIVING-ACCIDENT CASE... THE GRAND JURY EVIDENCE OF TWO LACERATIONS ON THE VICTIM’S NECK, 3-4 AND...