Ángel Camacho was walking away from an area where a Latin Kings gang fight had been. Police used their cruiser to obstruct Camacho's walking path, began asking accusatory questions and directed his companion to place his hands on the hood of a car without any evidence the men were members of the Latin Kings gang.
They then frisked Camacho and discovered a gun, leading to Camacho's criminal conviction. The United States Court of Appeals ruled that the search was a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
On Jan. 11, 2008, several calls were made to 911 in order to report an apparent gang brawl in the North End neighborhood of New Bedford, Mass. One of the callers identified combatants as members of the Latin Kings gang. Sergeant Scott Carola, Officer Adelino Sousa and Officer David Conceicao responded. Sousa and Conceicao arrived in an unmarked police vehicle, but were wearing jackets which displayed a police badge and the words "New Bedford Police" on the front. "Gang Unit" was written on the back of the jacket.
Sergeant Carola arrived first and saw twelve to fifteen people scattering from what he believed was a street brawl. Officer Sousa recognized several men as Latin Kings. Sgt. Carola then directed Officers Sousa and Conceicao to intercept and question two men he did not recognize, Ángel Camacho and Louis Osario-Meléndez, who were walking down the street.
The Officers followed the two men briefly before pulling in front of them and partially blocking their walking path. Officer Sousa stepped out and "approached Camacho, while Officer Conceicao ordered Osario-Meléndez to put his hands on the hood of the car." The Officers did not recognize Camacho or Osario-Meléndez, and articulated no reason for believing they were Latin Kings.
Camacho was breathing heavily and his clothes were wet. Sousa asked "accusatory" questions and inquired where the men were coming from and Camacho replied, "Nye Street," where the brawl had been. Camacho added that he had seen the brawl but had not taken part in the fight. Camacho's speech was normal and his clothing did not stand out as gang clothing.
However, Camacho kept his hands in the front pockets of his sweatshirt. When Sousa directed him to remove his hands, Camacho did so slowly and in a manner which seemed to the Officers to protect his midriff.
Sousa found this suspicious and tapped Camacho's waist with his open palm, feeling a gun. Sousa yelled, "Gun!" and Camacho instantly shoved Sousa. Officer Conceicao drew his service revolver and aimed it at Osario-Meléndez. Sousa and Camacho tussled for about thirty seconds before Conceicao struck Camacho over the head, knocking him to the ground. Officer Sousa seized a revolver with a live round in the chamber and eight rounds in the magazine from Camacho.
It was subsequently discovered that Camacho was a convicted felon and that the serial number on the revolver and been removed.
In the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Camacho was indicted for one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a prior felon and one count of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Challenging both counts, Camacho moved to suppress the firearm and ammunition, arguing that they were obtained through an illegal search and seizure.
The district court denied the motion to suppress on the grounds that the weapon was only seized after Camacho shoved Sousa, and thus the seizure was pursuant to a lawful arrest. Camacho entered a conditional guilty plea in which he preserved the right to appeal the denial of the suppression motion. He was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment.
On appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the denial of the motion to suppress was reversed. The court of appeals found that Camacho had been seized much earlier in his encounter with the police. Indeed, while walking away from Nye Street, the Officers used their vehicle to obstruct Camacho's path. The Officers, who were in police garb, began asking accusatory questions and directed one of the men to place his hands on the hood of the car and directed Camacho to remove his hands from his pockets. Under these circumstances, a reasonable person would not feel free to leave; Camacho was seized before a lawful arrest.
In turn, the court of appeals then had to assess whether Camacho's seizure was reasonable. Since officers had not observed either Camacho or Osario-Meléndez in a brawl or in other criminal activity, and since no officer recognized either man as a member of the Latin Kings and their clothes did not indicate they were Latin Kings, the mere fact that they were walking from Nye Street where a brawl had occurred was insufficient to justify a search or seizure.
The court of appeals further determined that the "the discovery of the gun was so tainted by the illegal stop" that an examination of the frisk itself was unnecessary. Although the court of appeals recognized that intervening crimes between an unconstitutional search or seizure can provide grounds for a subsequent lawful search and seizure, here the gun was discovered before any intervening crime was committed, and Camacho's act of shoving a police officer was not determinate in a the suppression analysis.
For these reasons, the court of appeals reversed Camacho's conviction. The case is United States v. Camacho and can be read here.
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