People v. Rosenbluth

In People v. Rosenbluth, 4 Misc. 3d 1025[A], (Dist. Ct. Suffolk Co. 2004) (Lawrence J. Donohue, J.D.C.), the officer was in a parking lot outside a discount department store known to be a "drug location." (Id.) Indeed, he had made 12 drug arrests there himself. Observing a parked car with two occupants, the officer "knocked on the window and shown his flashlight into the window. He observed that the defendant was in the driver's seat and had brass knuckles at his right foot. The passenger had loose marijuana in her hands. The defendant states, 'I guess these are brass knuckles.' The officer gave the defendant a desk appearance ticket" for the brass knuckles, charging him with Criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, P.L. 265.01. The suppression motion was granted and the charge was dismissed. Judge Donohue reasoned that, despite the officer's relying on his numerous arrests for drugs in that area as justification for his knock on the window and flashlight scan of the car interior, "there was no reason given to single out the defendant nor to interfere with his expectation of privacy within his car. Such an encounter was inherently unreasonable." (Id.)