Court Opinion

ID: 9650189
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:26:39.686506+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:18.808463
License: Public Domain

JACOBS, President Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent and would affirm the decision of the lower court.
Probable cause exists where facts and circumstances within the knowledge of the police are reasonably trustworthy and sufficient to warrant a person of reasonable caution to believe the suspect is engaged in criminal activity. Probable *10cause in the case before us was based upon an informant’s tip. It is well established that in order for such a tip to support a finding of probable cause, law enforcement authorities must be made aware of underlying circumstances to show (1) how the informant concluded that the suspects were engaged in criminal activity and (2) why the informant is considered to be credible or the information provided reliable. Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 413, 89 S.Ct. 584, 587, 21 L.Ed.2d 637, 641-42 (1969); Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 114, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 1513, 12 L.Ed.2d 723, 729 (1964); Commonwealth v. Soychak, 221 Pa.Super. 458, 464, 289 A.2d 119, 123 (1972). Neither prong of the Aguilar-Spinelli test has been met in this case.
At approximately 10:30 P.M. on October 8, 1976, a confidential informant placed a telephone call to Officer James Holliday of the Pittsburgh Police Department.1 He stated that three people, all of whom were black, were standing in front of Anita’s Bar in the 2200 block of Centre Avenue. He described them as a male wearing a red jacket and glasses, a second man, approximately six feet tall, wearing a brown jacket and gray slacks, and a heavy set woman wearing a green pants suit. He did not identify the three by name. The informant stated that all three were “dealing in drugs” and that he had observed “buys being made.”
Although Officer Holliday testified that the informant had the ability to recognize heroin, there was no information provided to support the statements that the three persons were dealing in drugs or that buys were being made.. That is, the informant did not tell Officer Holliday that he saw either heroin or money pass from the appellee and her companions to any other person. Furthermore, all of the informant’s information related to the three as a group. He provided absolutely no information about appellee or her activities as an individual. The information received consisted only of unsupported suspicions and conclusory state*11ments which are inadequate to provide probable cause for the search of appellee.
The reliability portion of the Aguilar-Spinelli test also went unsatisfied in this case. Officer Holliday testified that the informant had supplied him with information leading to arrests in the past. In fact, the officer named three persons, all co-defendants on one robbery charge whom he arrested following a tip by this informant. He stated that he had made other arrests based on information supplied by this informant, but he was unable to provide the court with the names or details concerning the other persons or arrests. Furthermore, although the three co-defendants mentioned above had been arrested prior to the informant’s supplying the information in this case, convictions did not result in those cases until after the search of Appellee Brown.
Finally, the informant’s tip was not corroborated by the independent observation of the police. See Betrand Appeal, 451 Pa. 381, 387, 303 A.2d 486, 489 (1973). Upon receiving the informant’s call, two police officers proceeded to the 2200 block of Centre Avenue. In driving by Anita’s Bar, they saw three individuals matching the description given by the informant. The police then proceeded to a location one-half block away from where they observed the trio for approximately twenty-five minutes; they did not use binoculars to aid their vision. During the observation period, they twice saw a black male approach the three and converse with them.2 Following the conversations, the police observed what Officer Holliday described as an “exchange” between appellee’s co-defendant and the fourth person. The Officer admitted that he saw neither objects nor money actually passing between the two. The men appeared to be shaking hands, however, and the police interpreted this action as a drug sale. In sum, the police saw three people who had been described to them earlier standing in front of a bar. Twice, one of the three engaged in a conversation with and made a hand movement toward a fourth person. *12At most, the police saw appellee standing with other people while a conversation ensued; there was no testimony that she made any gesture toward any other person. The information obtained by the police was inadequate to independently corroborate the informant’s tip and, thereby, cure his unreliability.
The Commonwealth also has argued that the search of appellee could be justified as a search incident to a lawful arrest. Just as the police lacked probable cause to search the appellee, they also lacked probable cause to arrest her and conduct a search incident to the arrest. Furthermore, the search was not conducted incident to the arrest. Appellee was arrested on the street not far from the spot where she was initially observed by the police. She was not searched there, however, but was transported to the Public Safety Building where subsequently she was searched. Clearly, the search of appellee was not incident to a lawful arrest and cannot be justified on that basis.
I agree with the lower court that the evidence seized during the search of appellee’s person should be suppressed. Accordingly, I would affirm.
SPAETH, J., joins this dissenting opinion.

. Information herein attributed to the informant was related to the suppression court by James Holliday, the police officer who spoke to the informant prior to the search.

. Officer Holliday did not state that he could hear what was said during these conversations.