In Reversal, Panel Finds Gun Should Not Be Suppressed

Police had cause to grab a bag that turned out to contain a loaded gun from a subway passenger on the basis of a tip given to the train conductor, a unanimous Appellate Division, First Department, panel ruled yesterday. The panel of Justices David Friedman (See Profile), John W. Sweeny Jr. (See Profile), Leland G. DeGrasse (See Profile), Sheila Abdus-Salaam (See Profile) and Nelson S. Roman (See Profile) ruled in People v. Wallace, 1438/07, that the gun should not be suppressed as evidence in a criminal case against the passenger, Devon Wallace. The decision reversed an order by Justice Thomas Farber (See Profile), which suppressed the evidence.

The underlying incident took place in 2007, when a subway passenger approached the conductor of a J train stopped at Gates Avenue in Brooklyn and told him that a black man wearing a brown coat had a gun in a brown bag and was showing it to passengers in the first car. The passenger also told a station agent. Both the conductor and agent contacted police by radio, and police were dispatched to the Essex Street station in Manhattan as the train arrived.