Commonwealth v. Pimentel

Following an evidentiary hearing, a Superior Court judge granted the defendant’s motion to suppress as evidence cocaine in a plastic bag dropped to the sidewalk by the defendant upon the approach of three police officers, one of whom testified at the hearing. The officer stated that he was going to make a threshold inquiry of the defendant because he suspected that a “drug deal had taken place.” Based upon the officers’ testimony and Commonwealth v. Silva, 366 Mass. 402, 405 (1974), the judge concluded that the officers had acted on a “hunch” rather than a reasonable suspicion and granted the…