Commonwealth v. D.A.

Police responded to a radio call for suspicious individuals inside of an apartment complex in Northeast Philadelphia. Upon their arrival, they saw D.A. who fit the description of someone who was banging on various apartment doors. Police questioned D.A. as to why he was in the building and he told them that he was looking for a friend’s apartment. Not satisfied, they continued to question him and formed an opinion that he was being evasive. They also claimed that he was extremely nervous and sweating profusely during the encounter. When they proceeded to frisk him for weapons he allegedly became uncooperative. At a motion to suppress evidence, the defense’s firearm attorney, Mr. Link argued that the police lacked a reasonable suspicion that D.A. was armed and dangerous and therefore did not have the authority to frisk him for weapons. Furthermore, police can not rely on an individuals reaction to unlawful searches as a basis to conduct the search. A judge agreed, and also found that the police officer who testified was NOT credible. All charges were immediately dismissed.