MA: Def’s frisk during his traffic stop was unjustified and unreasonable

The granting of defendant’s motion to suppress is affirmed. Although the stop of his vehicle was proper, his frisk was improper as was the search of his car which was based on the results of the improper frisk. Defendant’s actions did not indicate that he was armed and dangerous since he made no furtive movements, he had already gotten out of his vehicle and could not use it as a weapon, his body was fully visible to the officers, he was fully compliant with all commands issued by the officers, and he was outnumbered. The fact that the events unfolded quickly did not create a reasonable suspicion that the defendant was armed and dangerous. Commonwealth v. Torres-Pagan, 2020 Mass. LEXIS 62 (Jan. 29, 2020).

Disagreeing with the R&R, the court finds the CI was sufficiently corroborated to establish probable cause. Defendant was in the subject car at the time of the controlled buy. Defendant’s arrest was not unreasonable because of his proximity and apparent knowledge. Because his arrest was valid, his search incident was too. United States v. Acevedo, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12017 (D. Minn. Jan. 24, 2020).*