U.S. v. Johnson

In prosecution on unlawful possession of firearms charge, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress gun seized from defendant as passenger in parked car under circumstance where: (1) two squad cars had parked along side of and in rear of instant car that had been parked illegally on street; and (2) officer shining light through car’s window revealed that defendant was in back seat attempting to hide gun. While defendant argued that police lacked probable cause to issue any ticket for parking violation because statutory exception to parking violation allowed car’s occupants to park in said spot to discharge cargo or passengers and police had not observed car long enough to determine whether occupants came within statutory exception, Dist. Ct. could properly find that brief look by officers was enough to support probable cause of ordinance violation, where no one was in driver’s seat, car doors were closed, and no one was getting out of car. Fact that officers used two cars and bright lights to enforce fine-only ordinance did not require different result, and police need no reason to approach parked car on public street and look inside windows. Ct. further rejected defendant’s suggestion that suppression of evidence was appropriate because police had used excessive force that included request for car’s occupants to put their hands where they could be seen, since defendant’s only remedy under such circumstances is potential claim for money damages and not suppression of evidence, where use of reasonable force would have produced discovery of same evidence. (Dissent filed.)