Commonwealth v. G.J.

On February 28, 2022 officers from the East Violence Reduction unit were on patrol in the area of 2300 E. Anne Street when they observed G.J. on the sidewalk wearing a jacket that appeared to have the pockets “weighed down significantly.” Police claimed that when G.J. saw the police he said “Oh shit I gotta go” and walked down the sidewalk evasively away from the police and then into a corner store. Officers entered the store and claimed that G.J. tried to escape out of the back of the store. According to police G.J. then gave consent to search his jacket and after police felt a firearm in his pocket he fled the store and was tackled by police, who then recovered the gun and arrested G.J. The defense filed a motion to suppress evidence and produced surveillance video from the block that completely contradicted the officers’ testimony. The footage showed that G.J. did not walk evasively away from police; instead, he walked right up to within inches of the police car before walking around it and going into the store. Additional surveillance footage provided from the defense showed that G.J.’s pockets were not “weighed down” and that he did not attempt to exit the back of the store. The judge granted the defense motion to suppress finding that the video presented by the defense demonstrated that the officer’s testimony in the case was not credible. All charges were dismissed.