NY3: Stop justified by traffic offense, despite racial pretext claim

Defendant’s stop was justified by a traffic offense, despite claims it might have been racially motivated. People v. Price, 2020 NY Slip Op 04430, 2020 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4532 (3d Dept. Aug. 6, 2020). See the concurring opinion:

Again, the question is why the officers reacted in such a way when the context is a simple traffic infraction and the circumstances do not reflect a heightened safety concern. We recognize that the officer expressed a safety concern based on defendant walking behind the house (that there was a weapon behind the house and that a confrontation would ensue), but he also acknowledged that he did not observe anything in defendant’s hands when defendant returned to the car. So what really is going on here? In his brief, defendant maintains that the “police conduct . . . was motivated primarily by race.” Based on the entire sequence, one unfortunate conclusion that may reasonably be drawn is that the actions of the officers may have been, at least implicitly, motivated by the race of the Chevy occupants.

And that is the reason that we write separately, for it is essential that this Court emphasize that any such motivation will not be countenanced. We are certainly mindful that the Court of Appeals in People v Robinson (97 NY2d 341 [2001]) held that a police officer may stop a vehicle where there is probable cause to believe that the driver has committed a traffic infraction, even when the primary reason for the stop is to conduct another investigation, without violating either US Constitution Fourth Amendment or NY Constitution, article I, § 12. There is, however, a marked difference between the asserted factual pretext to investigate a robbery in Robinson and the concern raised here, i.e., that undertones of racial bias may explain the arresting officer’s failure to just make a routine traffic stop. Although the outcome in this particular case will not change, we would be remiss in not taking this opportunity to emphasize that bias, racial or otherwise, will not be allowed to legitimatize the unconstitutional intrusion upon any citizen’s freedom of movement.