Police are under no obligation to use less aggressive measures, such as lights and sirens, before forcibly stopping a vehicle by cutting it off, Acting Supreme Court Justice Joel Goldberg (See Profile) in Brooklyn has held in refusing to suppress evidence in a gun case. The judge said that as long as police have a legal reason to stop a vehicle, it does not matter how they choose to consummate the seizure.
Goldberg's decision in People v. Smith, 6102/12, stemmed from an incident where police received an anonymous 911 tip that a man in a Nissan Altima had a gun. An officer spotted the vehicle and found cause to stop it for having excessively tinted windows and for failure to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. But rather than using his lights, siren or loudspeaker to direct the driver, Montinay Smith, to pull over, the officer cut him off. The officer then allegedly saw the startled motorist attempt to conceal a gun.
