People v. Cantor

In People v. Cantor, 36 N.Y.2d 106 (1975), officers on the street had observed the defendant in an apartment smoking what they believed to be marijuana. When he left the apartment, they followed his car and after he parked in front of his own house, their patrol car blocked him in and the plainclothes officers surrounded him. The man allegedly drew a pistol, at which point the officers identified themselves as police. Following some questioning and a full search, they arrested him. Noting that "if the initial stop of the defendant was unlawful the evidence thereafter acquired must be suppressed absent an independent establishment of probable cause," (Id. at 111) the Court added that, "The proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures is designed to prevent random, unjustified interference with private citizens whether it is denominated an arrest, investigatory detention, or field interrogation." (Id. at 112.) Finding "the record barren of any objective evidence of criminal activity," (Id. at 113), the Court found that the motion to suppress should have been granted.