Court Opinion

ID: 9707587
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 02:16:12.6886+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:35.490068
License: Public Domain

POPOVICH, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the opinion of the majority since I am convinced that the Philadelphia Police Officers were not authorized to arrest appellant in Cheltenham Township pursuant to the Statewide Municipal Police Jurisdiction Act (MPJA).1 Accordingly, I would find that the trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion to suppress the evidence seized as a result of the officers’ unauthorized actions.
The issue on appeal is whether the officers had the authority to arrest appellant in Chel-tenham Township. It is clear that Chelten-ham Township was outside the officers’ primary jurisdiction.2 However, the trial court determined that the officers were permitted to act beyond their territorial limits pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 8953(a)(2) and (a)(5) of the MPJA. I disagree.
Section 8953(a)(2) provides the following:
(a) General rule. — Any duly employed municipal police officer who is within this *1268Commonwealth, but beyond the territorial limits of his primary jurisdiction, shall have the power and authority to enforce the laws of this Commonwealth or otherwise perform the functions of that office as if enforcing those laws or performing those functions within the territorial limits of his primary jurisdiction in the following cases:
(2) Where the officer is in hot pursuit of any person for any offense which was committed, or which he has probable cause to believe was committed, within his primary jurisdiction and for which offense the officer continues in fresh pursuit of the person after the commission of the offense.
42 Pa.C.S.A. § 8953(a)(2). By its terms, this Section confers extraterritorial authority only when (1) an offense was committed or the officer had probable cause to believe that an offense was committed in his primary jurisdiction; (2) the officer is in hot pursuit of the suspect; and (3) the officer continues in fresh pursuit of the suspect after commission of the offense.
Here, it is clear that the offense in this case occurred within Philadelphia, the officers’ primary jurisdiction. It is also clear that the key to resolution of this case is the definitions of “hot pursuit” and “fresh pursuit” as those terms are used in the MPJA. There have not been a great number of cases dealing with “pursuit” under Section 8953(a)(2) in this Commonwealth. In most of the cases which have applied the statute, the officer witnessed the violation and then immediately chased the defendant. See Commonwealth v. McGrady, 454 Pa.Super. 444, 685 A.2d 1008 (1996); Commonwealth v. Donton, 439 Pa.Super. 406, 654 A.2d 580 (1995). However, we have discussed the term “pursuit” as it related to 42 Pa.C.S. § 8901, the Intrastate Hot Pursuit Act, in circumstances similar to those in the case sub judice.3
In Commonwealth v. Brown, 298 Pa.Super. 11, 444 A.2d 149 (1982), the defendant robbed two elderly victims at their home in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. After the robbery, the victims immediately contacted the Williamsport police. Upon arrival, the police learned that the victims recognized the suspect and that the suspect’s name was Jerry Banks. Two police units proceeded to Banks’ home, which was located outside the city limits, and arrested him. We found that, pursuant to the Intrastate Hot Pursuit Act, the extraterritorial arrest was authorized. Specifically, we found that the officers’ pursuit of the defendant was fresh, continuous and uninterrupted. Brown, 444 A.2d at 153.
Clearly, under Brown’s interpretation of the Intrastate Hot Pursuit Act, the officers’ action in this case was authorized. Here, like in Brown, the officers’ pursuit was fresh in that they immediately traveled to appellant’s home, it was continuous in that from the moment notice of the crime was received the officers pursued appellant, and it was uninterrupted in that no other crimes were being handled while the officers were searching for appellant. Simply put, under Brown, the officers were in “fresh pursuit” of appellant prior to arresting him.
However, the Intrastate Hot Pursuit Act was repealed in 1982 and was replaced by 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 8953(a)(2) of the MPJA. A close reading of the MPJA and the Intrastate Hot Pursuit Act reveals that the text of the MPJA requires officers to be in “fresh and hot pursuit,” while the text of the Intrastate Hot Pursuit Act requires only that officers be in “fresh pursuit.” This court and our supreme court have both acknowledged that there is a difference between the phrases “fresh pursuit” and “hot pursuit.” In Commonwealth v. Magwood, 503 Pa. 169, 469 A.2d 115 (1983), Commonwealth v. Stasiak, 305 Pa.Super. 257, 451 A.2d 520 (1982), and Brown, swpra, the appellate courts held that the Intrastate Hot Pursuit Act did not require “hot pursuit.” Rather, the Act merely required the officer to be in “fresh pursuit.” The courts then attempted to distinguish between the two phrases, concluding that “hot pursuit” requires some sort of chase, whereas “fresh pursuit” does not require a chase. Stasiak, supra.
*1269Giving effect to every word of Section 8953(a)(2), and giving the phrase “hot pursuit” its plain and ordinary meaning, I conclude that, as a matter of law, “hot pursuit” requires some sort of chase. See 1 Pa.C.SA. § 1921(a). While it is not necessary for the chase to be a “fender-smashing Hollywood style chase scene,” it is necessary, at the very least, for the officer to chase the suspect and not just appear at the suspect’s home after receiving information regarding the suspect’s location. 68 Am.Jur.2d, Searches and Seizures 708.
Here, the Philadelphia Police Officers did not chase appellant. The facts reveal that by the time the first officer arrived on the scene, appellant had already returned to his house. The police then investigated the matter by confirming appellant’s license plate number and address. It was at this point that the police proceeded to appellant’s home and arrested him. I am convinced that, under these facts, there was no “hot pursuit” of appellant by the officers. Accordingly, I would find that the trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion to suppress under Section 8953(a)(2). Accordingly, I would reverse the lower court’s suppression order and find that the evidence seized as a result of the officers’ unauthorized actions should be suppressed. Commonwealth v. Fischer, 348 Pa.Super. 418, 502 A.2d 613 (1985) (where MPJA did not authorize the police to arrest appellant, the evidence must be suppressed).

. Act of June 15, 1982, P.L. 512, No. 141, as amended.

. In its appellate brief, the Commonwealth suggests that the officers were authorized to arrest appellant since Cheltenham Township and the City of Philadelphia had an agreement permitting Philadelphia Police Officers to patrol the Cheltenham Township area. In Commonwealth v. Lloyd, 701 A.2d 588, 589-590 (Pa.Super.1997), we held that "boroughs are permitted to enter into contracts with nearby or adjacent boroughs, either for mutual aid or assistance in police protection_ The legal effect [of such a contract] is to empower the police of one municipality to arrest someone in the other municipality.” However, in order for boroughs to contract for police services properly, "there are certain formalities which must be observed before a particular police officer has the authority to act inside the neighboring municipality.” Id. at 590. Specifically, the police officer must be appointed individually in the contract accepting the neighboring police officers. Lloyd, supra. Here, there was no evidence presented indicating that Officer Schwartz or Lieutenant Durran was appointed individually or that a formal, written contract even existed.

. In interpreting a statute, we should consider "[t]he former law, if any, including other statutes upon the same or similar subjects.” 42 Pa.C.S. § 1921(c)(5).