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DEFENDANT WAS OBSERVED WALKING UP AND DOWN DRIVEWAYS IN A RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD; WHEN THE POLICE ASKED HIM TO STOP, HE RAN AND THE POLICED PURSUED; THE POLICE DID NOT HAVE “REASONABLE SUSPICION” JUSTIFYING PURSUIT; THE SUPPRESSION MOTION SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT). ​

The Second Department, reversing the conviction by plea, determined the police did not have “reasonable suspicion” defendant was committing a crime at the time the defendant ran from them. The police were justified in exercising the “common law right of inquiry” because defendant was seen walking in different yards in a residential neighborhood. But the police were not justified in pursuing the defendant when he ran. The gun defendant discarded that the statements made to the police should have been suppressed:

… [T]he encounter began as a level two intrusion, with the officers parking and exiting their vehicle, stating “police,” and asking the defendant to stop … . The officers’ pursuit of the defendant constituted a level three intrusion, requiring a reasonable suspicion that the defendant was involved in a felony or misdemeanor … .. Here, however, the circumstances, which included the defendant’s actions of walking up and down the driveways of 105-31 and 105-33 Farmers Boulevard and across a lawn and toward the rear of a residence on 109th Avenue, “although not inconsistent with culpable [conduct,] are also susceptible of many innocent interpretations” … , and were, “[a]t most . . . equivocal and suspicious” … . Importantly, the officers did not observe the defendant looking into any houses or backyards, and did not observe him carrying or attempting to conceal any tools or weapons. Therefore, the defendant’s actions preceding his interaction with the officers and his flight therefrom did not support a reasonable suspicion of particularized criminal action … . People v Bryant, 2026 NY Slip Op 03976, Second Dept 6-24-25

Practice Point: Walking up and down residential driveways, carrying nothing and not looking into houses, justified exercise of the common law right of inquiry by the police. But defendant’s immediate flight from the police did not justify pursuit.

 

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