{"id":17235,"date":"2015-05-13T09:32:46","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T14:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=17235"},"modified":"2015-05-13T09:35:39","modified_gmt":"2015-05-13T14:35:39","slug":"pa-when-only-a-patdown-for-weapons-is-authorized-manipulating-the-pockets-to-further-discern-the-contents-is-an-unreasonable-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=17235","title":{"rendered":"PA: When only a patdown for weapons is authorized, manipulating the pockets to further discover the contents is an unreasonable search"},"content":{"rendered":"

When only a patdown for weapons is authorized, manipulating the pockets to further discern the contents is an unreasonable search. Here, the video of the stop showed it all. Commonwealth v. Griffin<\/a>, 2015 Pa. Super. LEXIS 256 (May 12, 2015):
\n<\/p>\n

Once the initial pat-down dispels the officer’s suspicion that the suspect is armed, any further poking, prodding, squeezing, or other manipulation of any objects discovered during that pat-down is outside the scope of the search authorized under Terry, supra. Commonwealth v. Graham, 554 Pa. 472, 721 A.2d 1075, 1082 (Pa. 1998). Where an officer needs to conduct some further search to determine the incriminating character of the contraband, the search and subsequent seizure is not justified under the plain feel doctrine and is unlawful. Id. An officer’s subjective belief that an item is contraband is not sufficient unless it is objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances that attended the frisk. See Commonwealth v. Zhahir, 561 Pa. 545, 751 A.2d 1153, 1163 (Pa. 2000).<\/p>\n

Although we agree that the officers properly stopped the vehicle and had reasonable suspicion to conduct a Terry frisk, we cannot agree with the trial court that the immediately apparent requirement of the plain feel doctrine was met in the instant case. As appellant contends, the officer’s testimony at the hearing is not consistent with what was depicted on the video. We agree; the video clearly depicts the officer repeatedly manipulating appellant’s pocket. This is one of those rare cases where a dash cam video, which was made a part of the certified record, can contradict a trial court’s factual finding often based on its credibility determinations.<\/p>\n

The video shows extensive, immediate further manipulation of [appellant’s] pocket. The video, at 01:49:46, displays Officer Auvil shaking, squeezing, rubbing, and pinching the contents of [appellant’s] pocket between his thumb and finger repeatedly upon the first instant of contact. Officer Auvil even maintains a tight squeeze and continues to grip [appellant’s] pocket, rubbing the contents with his right thumb, when he asked ‘What’s this?’ (Video, at 01:49:49). The multiple inches of [appellant’s] right leg that became visible compared to his left while Officer Auvil continued to tug and jostle its contents highlight the intent on further manipulating the contents of [appellant’s] pocket, after Officer Auvil took his hand off the shorts to place [appellant’s] hand back on the car, he brought his right hand back to the pocket and squeezed its contents for additional seconds. (Video, 01:49:57.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When only a patdown for weapons is authorized, manipulating the pockets to further discern the contents is an unreasonable search. Here, the video of the stop showed it all. Commonwealth v. Griffin, 2015 Pa. Super. LEXIS 256 (May 12, 2015):<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stop-and-frisk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17235"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17237,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17235\/revisions\/17237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}