People v. Reid

OPINION OF THE COURT

Saxe, J.

This appeal addresses whether suppression should have been granted where the police stopped defendant’s car for a traffic infraction, and, based on what the arresting officer heard and observed, defendant was asked to exit the car and was patted down; he was placed under arrest only after a knife was found in his pocket. Because the arresting officer candidly admitted that he had not intended to arrest the driver before discovering the knife, defendant contends that the officer lacked the requisite predicate for the search and that therefore we must suppress the…