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CA6: Flight from illegal arrest leading to dropped gun legally led to seizure of gun

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant's attempted arrest was without probable cause, but he dropped his gun while fleeing from the police, and the court must affirm the denial of the motion to suppress. United States v. Britton, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 15080, 2009 FED App. 0449N (6th Cir. July 1, 2009) (unpublished): . . . Shumpert Britton was legally disqualified from possessing the handgun he was carrying with him due to a prior felony conviction. That fact would not have come to light, however, if two Memphis, Tennessee police officers had not engaged in some illegality of their own: attempting to arrest Britton and two of his friends without any semblance of probable cause. But Britton's pistol was not discovered during a search incident to his arrest. Instead, Britton dropped the gun while climbing a fence in an effort to flee the police...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 12, 2009 (boomark / email).