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VA: Defendant's dropping gun during flight from allegedly illegal arrest was not cause for applying exclusionary rule

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant argued that his stop and assuming the position for a frisk was unreasonable, but he fled before the putdown could occur, and a gun fell from his waistband in flight. The dropping of the gun was unforeseeable to the officer, and the exclusionary rule would not be applied. Fitchett v. Commonwealth, 2010 Va. App. LEXIS 339 (August 17, 2010)*: Unlike in Smith, appellant's handgun was not first discovered during Officer Blount's seizure of appellant. Here, appellant ceased submitting to Officer Blount's authority and instead began running away from the officer. During his flight on foot, appellant tripped and fell, causing the handgun to fall from his waistband, where it had been concealed, and land on the ground. The officer never observed the handgun until it fell to the ground while appellant was fleeing from him...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 22, 2010 (boomark / email).