holding “that an officer who exceeds a pat-down without first discovering an object which feels reasonably like a knife, gun, or club must be able to point to specific and articulable facts which reasonably support a suspicion that the particular suspect is armed with an atypical weapon which would feel like the object felt during the pat-down”
How later courts described this case
- holding “that an officer who exceeds a pat-down without first discovering an object which feels reasonably like a knife, gun, or club must be able to point to specific and articulable facts which reasonably support a suspicion that the particular suspect is armed with an atypical weapon which would feel like the object felt during the pat-down”
- even if initial detention of defendant was lawful investigatory stop, officer's feel of soft object in defendant's pocket did not justify seizure of object, which proved to be a plastic bag of marijuana, since officer unable to point to specific facts justifying intrusion into defendant's pocket
- "If merely posing an objection to a search were sufficient to provide justification for a more extensive intrusion upon defendant's personal security, the right to be free from unreasonable police intrusions would be vitiated by its mere assertion." (internal quotation marks and quoted authority omitted)
- officer exceeded scope of pat down weapon search where no artic-ulable facts indicated suspect was armed with an atypical weapon similar to the object felt
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
BURKE, J.
I concur in the affirmance of the order setting aside the information and dismissing the case.