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Pat-Down Search After Stop for Traffic Infractions Okay

The Third Department determined the police officer [Negron] properly asked defendant to get out of his car, and properly conducted a pat-down search, after a vehicle-stop for traffic infractions:

…[O]fficers may exercise their discretion to require occupants to exit a vehicle once a lawful traffic stop has been effected, out of a concern for safety and without particularized suspicion….  Furthermore, a pat-down search of a suspect’s outer clothing is reasonable and constitutionally permissible when  an officer observes facts and circumstances that give rise to a reasonable suspicion that a person is armed or poses a threat to his or her safety… .

Here, the entire encounter took place after dark in an area to which Negron had frequently responded to reports of gang activity, drug sales, fights and  shootings. Negron testified that he was familiar with defendant from his prior criminal activity and that defendant had been violent toward police in the past and had twice been charged with resisting arrest. After defendant exited the vehicle, Negron noticed bulges in the pockets in defendant’s “grabbable” area, which Negron defined as the hot zone that defendant’s hands could access quickly from their normal resting position. Defendant subsequently declined to answer the question as to whether he was in possession of any weapons or drugs, prompting Negron to conduct the pat frisk that ultimately revealed a concealed handgun. Thus, considering the circumstances in their totality, we find that the officer possessed a reasonable basis to perform a pat-down search of defendant for the presence of weapons… .  People v Issac, 104854, 3rd Dept, 6-6-13

SUPPRESSION

 

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Confidential Informant Provided Reasonable Suspicion for a Vehicle Stop; Information Vehicle Occupants Were Armed Justified Stop with Guns Drawn

The Third Department determined that information from a confidential informant provided reasonable suspicion sufficient to justify an investigatory vehicle stop and noted that a vehicle stop with guns drawn did not ripen into an arrest where the police had reliable information the occupants of the vehicle were armed:

We reject defendant’s contention that removing him from the vehicle at gunpoint constituted an arrest without probable cause. An investigatory stop will not ripen into an arrest based upon the use of weapons by the police when they have reason to believe that the suspects are armed and dangerous, and here the police had been advised that defendant and the other individual were armed … .  People v Coffey, 104496, 3rd Dept, 6-6-13

SUPPRESSION

 

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Initial Detention at Gun-Point Was Not an Illegal Arrest

The Third Department determined that the initial detention of the defendant by the police, with guns drawn, did not amount to an illegal arrest:

Given the extremely short period of time between the report of the armed robbery and the arrival of the officers on the scene, defendant’s presence alongside the residence and the absence of any other individual in the vicinity, the officers were justified in forcibly detaining defendant in order to quickly confirm or dispel their reasonable suspicion of defendant’s possible involvement in the armed robbery… . Furthermore, defendant was informed that he was being detained, was not questioned during that period of time and was held at the crime scene in order to effectuate showups by the victims of the robbery… . People v Stroman, 103148, 3rd Dept, 6-6-13

SUPPRESSION

 

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Defendant Handcuffed, Post-Arrest Search of Backpack Unlawful

In determining the search of defendant’s backpack was unlawful because there were no exigent circumstances to justify it, the First Department wrote:

The search of defendant’s backpack following his arrest was unlawful because he was handcuffed at the time of the search and it was no longer in his control…. The contents of the backpack, which included a pair of pliers and unused garbage bags, should have been suppressed because even where a container is not in the exclusive control of the police, exigency justifying its search incident to arrest is not established in the absence of “some reasonable basis for the belief that the contents of those containers might pose a danger to the arresting officers or when there is legitimate concern for the preservation of evidence which might reasonably be thought to reside within the containers”….  People v Diaz, 2013 NY Slip Op 03937, 1st Dept, 6-4-13

SUPPRESSION

 

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No Reasonable Suspicion of Criminal Activity—Frisk of Defendant Improper​

Applying a “DeBour” analysis, the Second Department determined the police did not have the right to frisk the defendant.  The police approached the defendant because he was holding two or three cigarettes and the police thought he may be selling loose cigarettes.  The police noticed evidence of gang membership and defendant acknowledged being a member. The police asked defendant if he had a weapon and defendant did not answer.  At that point, based on seeing a bulge in defendant’s pocket, the defendant was frisked and searched. The Court wrote:

The level one request for information may include ” basic, nonthreatening questions regarding, for instance, identity, address or destination'” …. However, ” [o]nce the officer asks more pointed questions that would lead the person approached reasonably to believe that he or she is suspected of some wrongdoing . . . the officer is no longer merely seeking information'” … and the encounter has become a level-two common-law inquiry, which must be supported by ” “a founded suspicion that criminal activity is afoot”‘” …”[A] police officer who asks a private citizen if he or she is in possession of a weapon must have founded suspicion that criminality is afoot” ….

“[T]o elevate the right of inquiry to the right to forcibly stop and detain, the police must obtain additional information or make additional observations of suspicious conduct sufficient to provide reasonable suspicion of criminal behavior” …. ” [I]nnocuous behavior alone will not generate a founded or reasonable suspicion that a crime is at hand'” …. Thus, “in order to justify a frisk of a suspect’s outer clothing, a police officer must have “knowledge of some fact or circumstance that supports a reasonable suspicion that the suspect is armed or poses a threat to safety”‘”…. Even assuming that the police were justified in conducting a level-two common-law inquiry, they lacked the reasonable suspicion necessary to support a level-three encounter consisting of a pat-down or “stop-and-frisk” search… .  People v Kennebrew, 2013 NY Slip Op 03854, 2nd Dept, 5-29-13

STREET STOPS

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Suppression Ruling Reversed—Pat Down Search Justified for Officer Safety​

Over two dissents, the Fourth Department reversed the grant of suppression by County Court.  The questioning of the defendant was instigated by the defendant’s staring at the officer as the officer was in his vehicle and the defendant was riding a bicycle.  The defendant ran his bicycle into a porch, fell and ran up the steps. At that point the officer approached him and asked him for identification.  The defendant kept putting his hand in his pocket after the officer asked him not to. The officer grabbed the defendant’s hand as defendant reached into his pocket.  As he did so, the officer touched an object he believed to be a handgun and he reached into the pocket and removed it.  The majority felt the officer was justified in grabbing the defendant’s hand and retrieving the object to protect his safety.  The dissenters felt the information available to the officer did not amount to reasonable suspicion of criminality such that a forcible stop and frisk was justified. People v Sims, KA 12-01247, 324, 4th Dept, 5-3-13

SUPPRESS, SEARCH, STREET STOP

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DeBour Criteria Met in Street Encounter Leading to Arrest; Statements Tainted by Miranda Violations Did Not Preclude Admission of Statement Made Seven Hours Later

In a full-fledged opinion by Justice Renwick, the First Department upheld the denial of defendant’s suppression motions.  After hearing gun shots police officers approached the defendant. After defendant answered a couple of questions he “began to place his hand in his back pocket.”  At that point, the officer grabbed defendant’s arm and told defendant he wanted to frisk the defendant before allowing him to reach in his pockets.  As the officer began to frisk the defendant, the defendant ran and was brought the ground.  A firearm, still warm, was taken from the defendant’s back pocket.   Written statements subsequently given by the defendant were suppressed by the trial court because of a Miranda violation.  A videotaped statement, made seven hours after the tainted written statements, was deemed admissible:

Prior to pleading guilty, defendant moved to suppress a gun, recovered from his pocket, and videotaped statements he made to the prosecution as fruits of an unlawful seizure. He also moved to suppress the statements as obtained in violation of his Miranda rights. We conclude that the facts disclosed in the record were such as to warrant a person of reasonable caution to believe that defendant was reaching for a weapon when the arresting officer grabbed his arm. We also find that defendant’s videotaped statements were not suppressible, notwithstanding the suppression of prior written statements made more than seven hours earlier to police officers, because the videotaped statements were attenuated by a “definite, pronounced break in the interrogation” … .  People v Davis, 2012 NY Slip Op 02337, 6129, 9270, 1st Dept 4-4-13

 

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DeBour Criteria Met By Facts Leading to Arrest

The Third Department determined the following scenario legitimately led to the defendant’s arrest under the DeBour criteria:

The officers arrived at the scene and observed approximately eight people sitting on the steps. As the officers approached the group, one of them – later identified as defendant– abruptly stood up and attempted to enter the building, but could not gain entry because the door was apparently locked.  One of the officers followed defendant up the steps, placed a hand on defendant’s shoulder and asked defendant why he was in a hurry. Defendant turned around, shoved the officer, said that he was “past curfew” and, after a brief struggle, ran down the steps and took off running down the street.  People v Morris, 104201, 3rd Dept, 4-4-13

STREET STOPS

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“Plain View” Doctrine Does Not Require Certainty Seized Item Is Contraband

In affirming the denial of a suppression motion, the First Department determined that the chain of events observed by the arresting officer before the stop of defendant’s vehicle led to the proper application of the “plain view” doctrine for the seizure of contraband.  Defendant was seen going into a store (which was a frequent target of thieves) with a large empty bag and coming out of the store with the bag visibly heavier and fuller.  After a vehicle stop (the stop was not contested or discussed in the decision), the defendant gave answers to questions that contradicted what the officer had observed and the officer saw a large amount of over-the-counter medications in the bag.  In finding the seizure of the bag justified under the “plain view” doctrine, the Court said:  “The plain view doctrine does not require certainty or near certainty as to the incriminating nature of the items.  Instead, it ‘merely requires that the facts available to the officer would warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief …that certain items may be contraband or stolen property or useful as evidence of a crime; it does not demand any showing that such a belief be correct or more likely true than false.  A practical, nontechnical probability that incriminating evidence is involved is all that is required’ …”.  People v Taylor, 9439, 6265/10, 1st Dept. 3-7-13​

STREET STOPS, SUPPRESS, SEARCH

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Miranda Violations Mandate Suppression.

A police officer approached defendant who was in a parked car. The officer smelled a “strong odor of unburnt marijuana coming from the defendant’s vehicle’s open window.”  The officer asked if the occupants of the vehicle had “anything illegal.”  The defendant produced a small bag of marijuana.  The officer then told the defendant to get out of the vehicle “as he was now under arrest for unlawful possession of marijuana.”  The officer searched the vehicle and found two bags of marijuana under the driver’s seat.  When he asked the defendant if the bags of marijuana were his, he said “yes.”  A gun was also recovered in the search.  The defendant was taken to the police station where he was read his Miranda rights for the first time and he declined to speak with the detective. Two hours later the arresting officer told the defendant that if no one confessed to owning the gun, everyone in the vehicle would be “equally charged.”  The defendant then asked to speak to the detective.  He was read his Miranda rights again and confessed to owning the gun.  The Second Department suppressed the marijuana and the gun—the marijuana because the defendant was in custody and had not been read his rights at the time he was asked about it—and the gun because defendant had initially refused to speak with the police thereby asserting his right to remain silent.  Subsequent questioning was not proper.  People vs. Jackson, 2011-05745, Ind. No. 10-00130 Second Dept. 2-20-13

DeBour, street stops

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