PA: Arrest for hand-to-hand drug deals at front door justified exigent entry to freeze situation

Defendant was observed doing three hand-to-hand drug deals at his front door. When he left the house he was stopped, and the house was entered to freeze the situation to preserve evidence to get a search warrant. The entry was based on exigency, and it did not taint the search warrant. Commonwealth v. Howard, 2013 PA Super 56, 64 A.3d 1082 (2013).

The officer’s testimony that the defendant’s driving was suspicious was based on having both hands on the wheel and both arms extended. That is not reasonable suspicion. Also, the officer apparently let slip during testimony that the defendant’s name was a Mohawk Indian name, and that bordered on racial profiling. Motion to suppress granted. People v Deer, 2013 NY Slip Op 23077, 39 Misc. 3d 677, 960 N.Y.S.2d 891 (St. Lawrence Co. 2013)*:

This was mere speculation and guesswork on his part. His candid testimony that the occupants looked like Mohawks and that one had what Carrier believed is a Mohawk name, and that the car was listed for an address near the Mohawk Indian reservation bordered on improper racial profiling. The factors about which Carrier testified did not collectively, even under a totality of circumstances analysis, rise to the level of reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. Nor were those factors sufficient to meet the even more rigorous requirements for a permissible suspicionless patrol stop, because there was no testimony about established procedures for such stops or that such procedures were followed in this case.