Court Opinion

ID: 9753256
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:05:39.292064+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:32.901957
License: Public Domain

BECK, J.,
Concurring.
¶ 1 I join Judge Hudock’s opinion. This case differs materially from Commonwealth v. Hawkins, 547 Pa. 652, 692 A.2d 1068 (1997) and Commonwealth v. Jackson, 548 Pa. 484, 698 A.2d 571 (1997). Those cases involved reports of men with guns, accompanied by a clothing description. Our supreme court found that such tips were insufficient to warrant a stop and frisk under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968) because the police officers did not have a reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot. In this case however, there is additional corroborating evidence that appellant and his companion were causing a disturbance on the street that night.
¶ 2 Despite the dissent’s efforts to characterize the interaction between the two men as innocuous, the transcript clearly establishes that the officer reasonably believed he had come upon a street fight. The officer described appellant as talking loudly “in the other’s man’s face,” “pushing his way towards his face” and making gestures as if he was in an argument. Also present was a female who was “trying to get in between” the men and “push them apart.” Although the officer couldn’t hear what the men were saying, it is illogical to assume that he could not reasonably conclude from their actions that they were engaged in a “heated argument.” That fact, coupled with the fact that the officer was alone at night and answering a report about men with guns, was clearly sufficient to authorize a Terry stop and frisk.
¶ 3 Unlike the dissent, I am not troubled that our holding here today will allow police to frisk citizens “discussing the weath*174er” or other ordinary topics. The conduct observed here was far different from that. The officer responded to a radio call, observed corroborating circumstances and properly conducted a Terry stop. He need not have waited for a gun to appear before he moved to diffuse the situation. Hawkins and Jackson simply do not control.