The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether police can follow and detain a suspect while they wait for a search warrant, even after the suspect leaves the area the police want to search. The high court yesterday agreed to hear an appeal from Chunon Bailey, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison on drug and weapons charges.
Bailey left a building in Bay Shore, Queens, where police wanted to search for a gun in an apartment before the warrant arrived. An unmarked police car followed Bailey for more than a mile before police detained him and brought him back to the building. Once the warrant had arrived, police found drugs and weapons and arrested Bailey, who had an apartment key in his pocket. Eastern District Judge Joseph Bianco (See Profile) ruled that if police could detain someone leaving a place during a search, then they could also follow someone who has left the place being searched and bring them back.
