Source: http://masscases.com/cases/app/53/53massappct215.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 14:55:07+00:00

Document:
COMMONWEALTH vs. PIERRE P., a juvenile.
Present: BROWN, PORADA, & LAURENCE, JJ.
Practice, Criminal, Motion to suppress. Search and Seizure, Protective frisk. Constitutional Law, Search and seizure. Delinquent Child. Loitering.
COMPLAINT received and sworn to in the Springfield Division of the Juvenile Court Department on August 1, 1997.
A pretrial motion to suppress evidence was heard by Rebekah J. Crampton, J., and the case was heard by Patricia M. Dunbar, J.
Lisa A. Szulborski (Jane Davidson Montori, Assistant District Attorney, with her) for the Commonwealth.
BROWN, J. The juvenile was charged with carrying a dangerous weapon, a double- edged knife, and was adjudged delinquent. On appeal he contests the denial of his motion to suppress evidence seized from a "pat frisk." Because the officers were not justified in stopping the juvenile, we reverse the judgment of delinquency.
v. Selby, 420 Mass. 656 , 657 (1995). "However, the judge's ultimate findings and conclusions of law, especially those of constitutional dimensions, are open to independent review on appeal." Ibid. See Commonwealth v. Berment, 39 Mass. App. Ct. 522 , 523 (1995); Commonwealth v. Badore, 47 Mass. App. Ct. 600 , 601 (1999).
The motion judge found the following facts. On July 31, 1997, Springfield police had received phone complaints that alleged gang members were congregating on Main Street in the North End section of Springfield. Officer James Crogin, a member of the gang suppression unit, drove to the location at 11:00 P.M. The juvenile was with five to eight other youths. Several of the youths, including the juvenile, were wearing black and yellow clothing, which Officer Crogin knew to be the colors of the Latin Kings gang. Officer Crogin recognized one of the youths (not the defendant) as a member of the Latin Kings. Officer Crogin, accompanied by two other officers, approached the youths, with the intent of telling them to move along and to alert them that they were violating the Springfield loitering ordinance. However, before he did this, he "pat frisked" each member of the group.
reliance on Commonwealth v. Heon, 44 Mass. App. Ct. 254 (1998), concluded that there was sufficient evidentiary support for finding that the pat frisk was permissible due to concern for the officer's safety.
The judge below and the parties on appeal have assumed that the frisk of the juvenile's person was preceded by a forcible stop. We note that the somewhat sparse factual record here lends itself to an alternate interpretation: that there was no stop or seizure of the juvenile prior to the moment the police frisked him. Cf. Commonwealth v. Fraser, 410 Mass. 541 , 544 n.4 (1991) (pat- down of defendant was not preceded by a forcible stop where officer simply patted down the defendant in the course of a nonseizure field investigation).
A police officer may frisk a person with whom he necessarily comes into contact if he reasonably considers that person to be dangerous. Ibid. See Commonwealth v. Johnson, 36 Mass. App. Ct. 336 , 338 (1994); 4 LaFave, Search & Seizure § 9.5(a), at 247 (3d ed. 1996). However, the Commonwealth could not have invoked this rule here. Nothing in the record before us suggests that, in simply dispersing the group of which the defendant was a part, there was a need for Officer Crogin to come into close contact with the defendant, or any other member of the group. Contrast Commonwealth v. Fraser, 410 Mass. at 544 n.4 (where officer had duty to investigate report of an armed man, officer's proximity to the defendant was justified). Thus, even if the defendant was not seized prior to the frisk, the frisk itself cannot be justified and the knife should have been suppressed.
If we accept the analytical framework adopted by the parties and the motion judge, that is, that there was a stop here prior to the frisk of the defendant, the Commonwealth fares no better.
To justify the stop, the officers must have had "a reasonable suspicion, based on specific, articulable facts and reasonable inferences, that the defendant had committed, was committing, or was about to commit a crime." Commonwealth v. Berment, 39 Mass. App. Ct. at 526, quoting from Commonwealth v. Willis, 415 Mass. 814 , 817 (1993).
We hold that the record does not support the judge's conclusion that the stop was justified. The judge's ruling was based on the officer's having personally witnessed the juvenile and his companions allegedly committing the crime of violating the loitering ordinance. [Note 2] However, there was no evidence that the youths were obstructing, hindering, or preventing others from passing by, as required by the ordinance. "Prima facie, mere sauntering or loitering on a public way is lawful and the right of any man, woman, or child." Commonwealth v. Carpenter, 325 Mass. 519 , 521 (1950). The officer's suspicion of a crime being committed was unreasonable and not based on articulable facts. Pursuant to the ordinance, all that should have occurred was a request by the officer to move along.
face the . . . 'high crime area' will not be resolved any more readily by excluding the individuals who live there from the protections afforded by our Constitution." Commonwealth v. Cheek, 413 Mass. 492 , 497 (1992).
We reverse the order denying the motion. Without the suppressed evidence, the Commonwealth's case at trial would have been lacking in essential proof. The judgment of delinquency is therefore reversed, and judgment shall enter for the juvenile. See Commonwealth v. Badore, 47 Mass. App. Ct. 600 , 604 (1999).
This ordinance was not entered in evidence, and the Commonwealth concedes that municipal ordinances are not subject to judicial notice. See Warren v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Amherst, 383 Mass. 1 , 8 (1981); Commonwealth v. Perretti, 20 Mass. App. Ct. 36 , 40 (1985).
[Note 2] The motion judge found that the constitutionality of the ordinance was not relevant to the issue of justification for the initial stop pursuant to Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968). The validity of the ordinance itself is not challenged on appeal. As to such a challenge, see Commonwealth v. Carpenter, 325 Mass. 519 (1950); Commonwealth v. Williams, 395 Mass. 302 (1985).

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