People v. Erwin

Memorandum. The order of the Appellate Division is reversed, the judgment vacated, the motion to suppress granted and the case remitted to Supreme Court for further proceedings on the indictment. The court, after a pretrial hearing, improperly denied defendant’s motion to suppress certain evidence as the products of an illegal search and seizure. Although the officers had reasonable cause to stop defendant for driving through a red light, the subsequent search was not incident to a lawful arrest (cf. People v Copeland, 39 NY2d 986; People v Troiano, 35 NY2d 476). A search incident to arrest…