Commonwealth v. Flemming

Incident to a Terry stop, 1 and after observing a bulge at the defendant’s waistband, the police lifted the defendant’s shirt to ascertain the source of the bulge without first conducting a patfrisk. A judge of the Boston Municipal Court suppressed the evidence seized as a result of that search, and the Commonwealth appealed. 2 We conclude that, though there may be circumstances in which a patfrisk is unnecessary as an initial investigatory step, the present case does not warrant departure from the general rule favoring a patfrisk as a predicate to further investigation in a Terry stop. See,…