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CA3: Officers executing SW in high crime area could exclude occupants solely for safety of the officers

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The Allentown SWAT team executed a search warrant in a homicide case at a bar in a high crime area known for weapons possession and drug dealing. The defendant was a security guard at the bar who was kept outside away from the bar, and he admitting having a gun, but he was a felon. This was valid, solely on safety of the officers. (The warrant was to collect videotapes, no less.) United States v. Allen, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 17141 (3d Cir. August 17, 2010): The only law enforcement interest relevant to our case, and indeed the only part of the Summers Court's reasoning that is applicable to the facts here, is minimizing the risk of harm to the officers. Indeed, the District Court relied solely on this interest in denying Allen's motion to suppress...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 21, 2010 (boomark / email).