People v. Allen

On these scant and equivocal facts, I would conclude that the officer did not have the requisite “knowledge of some fact or circumstance that supports a reasonable suspicion that [defendant was] armed or pose[d] a threat to safety” (People v Batista, 88 NY2d 650, 654 [1996]). That defendant was not wearing a seat belt adds nothing to the analysis as it hardly has any logical bearing on the key issue of whether defendant was armed or dangerous. Nor is this issue affected either by the number of arrests the officer had made or by whether the area was “deserted.” Accordingly, the propriety of…