Gaskins v. United States, 5010.
| Decision Date | 06 March 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 5010.,5010. |
| Citation | 262 A.2d 810 |
| Parties | Harry Reid GASKINS, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee. |
| Court | D.C. Court of Appeals |
Leo M. Romero, Washington, D. C., appointed by this court, for appellant. Harvey S. Price, Roger E. Zuckerman, Asst. U. S. Attys., with whom Thomas A. Flannery, U. S. Atty., John A. Terry and Herbert B. Hoffman, Asst. U. S. Attys., were on the brief, for appellee.
Before HOOD, Chief Judge, and FICKLING and GALLAGHER, Associate Judges.
Appellant challenges the denial of his motion to suppress a pistol taken from him, allegedly in violation of his fourth amendment rights. The pistol was introduced into evidence at his non-jury trial, after which he was convicted of a violation of D. C.Code 1967, § 22-3204, carrying a pistol without a license.
At a pre-trial hearing on the motion to suppress the following facts were revealed. One Officer Madding testified that at about 9:05 p. m. on March 25, 1969, he and his partner were cruising the area of 6th and G Streets, N.W. As they proceeded east on G Street, a taxicab driver coming from the opposite direction hailed them and said: "I just saw a guy up the street tuck a gun inside his belt." The cabdriver pointed to three men walking south on 6th Street towards G Street, and the officer noted that the street was otherwise empty. The cabdriver did not say which of the men he had seen with the gun.
After driving up to the three men and stopping them, Officer Madding searched appellant and found a .25 caliber automatic pistol in his left coat pocket. Prior to stopping the three subjects, the officer had not seen the gun. His partner and two foot patrolmen who were in the area searched the other two men and seized a knife from one and narcotics paraphernalia from the other. All three were arrested.
Appellant took the stand, denied having removed the gun from his coat while on the street, and stated that it had been in his right coat pocket all the time. He testified that one of his two companions was a white man, the other a Negro, his nephew. The pre-trial judge denied the motion to suppress.
We think the trial judge was correct in denying the motion to suppress. A police officer's actions are not to be judged from "[the] remote vantage point of a library * * *." Jackson v. United States, 112 U.S.App.D.C. 260, 262, 302 F.2d 194, 196 (1962). We must answer these questions: "[u]nder the sum total of circumstances at the moment, (1) what was a reasonably prudent police officer entitled to believe, and (2) upon the basis of his belief what was he to do?" Dixon v. United States, 111 U.S.App.D.C. 305, 306, 296 F.2d 427, 428 (1961).
It is clear that Officer Madding was entitled to rely upon the information imparted to him by the cabdriver, an eyewitness to the crime, "[w]ho it [seemed] reasonable to believe [was] telling the truth." Daniels v. United States, 129 U.S.App.D.C. 250, 252, 393 F.2d 359, 361 (1968). That information, coupled with the fact that no other group of three men was walking down the street, reasonably required him to take some action, although he was not told by the passing cabdriver which one of the three had the gun. Under the circumstances, we think the course taken was reasonable.
There were but two courses open: (a) let the three pass in the night because he was not told which one of the three...
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