Com. v. Gardner, N. ( 2021 )


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  • J-S50013-20
    NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
    COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA               :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
    :        PENNSYLVANIA
    :
    v.                             :
    :
    :
    NEIL GARDNER                               :
    :
    Appellant               :   No. 1958 EDA 2019
    Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered June 5, 2019
    In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at
    No(s): CP-51-CR-0004542-2018
    BEFORE:       BENDER, P.J.E., SHOGAN, J., and STRASSBURGER, J.*
    MEMORANDUM BY BENDER, P.J.E.:                             Filed: March 18, 2021
    Appellant, Neil Gardner, appeals from the judgment of sentence of 4-10
    years’ incarceration, imposed after the trial court found him guilty of persons
    not to possess, use, manufacture, control, sell or transfer firearms, 18 Pa.C.S.
    § 6105.     Herein, Appellant challenges the court’s denial of his motion to
    suppress the seized firearm. After careful review, we affirm.
    The trial court summarized the facts adduced at the suppression hearing
    as follows:
    On April 25, 2018, a video captured a shooting that occurred in
    the area of 8th and Diamond Streets in Philadelphia, an area known
    for illicit drug sales, turf wars and gun violence. []N.T.[,]
    12/10/18, [at] 8, 13[]. Appellant was depicted in the video
    walking in and out of a store along with two men who began firing
    hand guns at Appellant and continued to do so as Appellant fled.
    [Id. at] 8-10[]. Philadelphia Police Officer Jason Seigafuse
    received a radio call to investigate the shooting. This officer, who
    ____________________________________________
    *   Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
    J-S50013-20
    worked in the area for fifteen years, proceeded to the location of
    the shooting and retrieved the video. [Id. at] 8-10, 13[]. The
    next day, having watched the video, Officer Seigafuse and his
    partner returned to the area of the shooting at about 6:00 p.m.
    and saw Appellant, who[m] the officer knew from a prior arrest.
    [Id. at] 10, 18[]. Officer Seigafuse exited his patrol car and asked
    to speak with Appellant. [Id. at] 10[]. Appellant replied, “Yes[,]”
    and began walking toward the officer. [Id. at] 8-10, 14[].
    Appellant then fled into a vacant lot and continued running from
    the officer. [Id. at] 10-11, 14[].
    Officer Seigafuse followed Appellant and noticed that he was
    grabbing his right front pants pocket. [Id. at] 11, 14-15[]. When
    Officer Seigafuse caught up to Appellant and grabbed him, a
    struggle ensued, and Appellant attempted to push the officer
    away. [Id. at] 11, 21-22[]. During the struggle, Appellant
    continued to hold his right pants pocket, which caused the officer
    to fear that Appellant might be armed. [Id. at] 11[]. Based on
    that fear, Officer Seigafuse drew his service revolver and
    Appellant put his hands in the air. [Id.]
    After Appellant placed his hands in the air, Officer Seigafuse took
    Appellant to the ground.        [Id. at] 8-10[].    Appellant then
    volunteered that he had a gun in his right front pants pocket[,]
    after which the officer retrieved an operable and loaded .45 caliber
    handgun. [Id. at] 11, 23, 46[].2
    2 A later search of Appellant resulted in the recovery of eight
    clear jars containing marijuana. [Id.] 11, 25[].
    Trial Court Opinion (“TCO”), 12/23/19, at 2-3.
    Subsequently, the Commonwealth charged Appellant for his possession
    of the seized firearm pursuant to Section 6105.1 Appellant filed a suppression
    motion, which the court denied at the conclusion of the December 10, 2018
    hearing. Immediately thereafter, the case proceeded to a bench trial, wherein
    the transcript from the suppression hearing was incorporated by mutual
    ____________________________________________
    1 The Commonwealth charged Appellant with several other crimes, however,
    the Section 6105 violation was the only offense it pursued to trial.
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    consent. The trial court then rendered a guilty verdict. On February 15, 2019,
    the court sentenced Appellant to 6-12 years’ incarceration. Appellant filed a
    timely post-sentence motion, which the trial court granted. Subsequently, on
    June 5, 2019, the court resentenced Appellant to 4-12 years’ incarceration.
    Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal, and a timely, court-ordered Pa.R.A.P.
    1925(b) statement.        The trial court issued its Rule 1925(a) opinion on
    December 23, 2019.
    Appellant now presents the following question for our review:
    Did not the trial court improperly deny a motion to suppress
    evidence because police lacked even reasonable suspicion under
    the Fourth Amendment and the expanded protections of Article 1,
    Section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution to stop, detain or arrest
    [Appellant], a witness to a crime who did not seek out the police,
    and who ran from the police in a “high crime area” when the police
    attempted to question him and then immediately pursued him?
    Appellant’s Brief at 3.
    Our standard of review for the issue before this Court is well-settled:
    When reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress evidence, we
    examine the evidence of the Commonwealth and so much of the
    evidence for the defense as remains uncontradicted when read in
    context of the record as a whole. We then determine whether the
    suppression court’s factual findings are supported by the record
    and whether the legal conclusions drawn from those facts are
    correct. Our review of the application of the law to the facts is
    plenary.
    Commonwealth v. Washington, 
    51 A.3d 895
    , 897 (Pa. Super. 2012)
    (cleaned up).
    There are three types of encounters between law enforcement
    officials and private citizens. A “mere encounter” need not be
    supported by any level of suspicion but carries no official
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    compulsion to stop or respond. Commonwealth v. Clinton, 
    905 A.2d 1026
    , 1030 (Pa. Super. 2006)….           An “investigative
    detention” must be supported by reasonable suspicion and
    subjects the suspect to a stop and a period of detention, but it
    does not have the coercive conditions that would constitute an
    arrest. 
    Id.
     The courts determine whether reasonable suspicion
    exists by examining the totality of the circumstances. In the
    interest of D.M., … 
    727 A.2d 556
    , 559 ([Pa.] 1999). An arrest,
    or “custodial detention,” must be supported by probable cause.
    Clinton, 
    905 A.2d at 1030
    .
    In Interest of J.G., 
    145 A.3d 1179
    , 1185 (Pa. Super. 2016).
    Here, it is undisputed that Officer Seigafuse’s interaction with Appellant
    began as a mere encounter.         However, as this Court has previously
    recognized:
    Article I, Section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution and the Fourth
    Amendment of the United States Constitution afford protections
    against unreasonable searches and seizures. Among the
    protections is the requirement that an officer have reasonable
    suspicion before conducting an investigatory stop. See Terry v.
    Ohio, 
    392 U.S. 1
    , 30 … (1968); Commonwealth v. Hicks, … 
    253 A.2d 276
    , 280 ([Pa.] 1969). Our Supreme Court has, however,
    interpreted Article I, Section 8 protection more broadly than the
    Fourth Amendment and has found that a seizure occurs when an
    officer gives chase. Compare California v. Hodari D., 
    499 U.S. 621
    , 629 … (1991), with Commonwealth v. Matos, … 
    672 A.2d 769
    , 776 ([Pa.] 1996). Under Pennsylvania law, any items
    obtained as the result of a pursuit are considered fruits of a
    seizure. See generally Matos, 672 A.2d at 770. Those items
    may be received in evidence only when an officer, before giving
    chase, has at least the reasonable suspicion necessary for an
    investigatory detention. Id. at 771.
    Commonwealth v. Gray, 
    784 A.2d 137
    , 141–42 (Pa. Super. 2001).
    Thus, under the Pennsylvania Constitution, an investigative stop
    occurred when Officer Seigafuse began his pursuit of Appellant.             Any
    contraband seized from Appellant should have been suppressed by the trial
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    J-S50013-20
    court absent a showing that Officer Seigafuse possessed reasonable suspicion
    that Appellant was engaged in criminal activity when Officer Seigafuse gave
    chase.2 Reasonable suspicion
    requires a finding that based on the available facts, a person of
    reasonable caution would believe the intrusion was appropriate.
    Reasonable suspicion exists only where the officer is able to
    articulate specific observations which, in conjunction with
    reasonable inferences derived from those observations, led him
    reasonably to conclude, in light of his experience, that criminal
    activity was afoot and that the person he stopped was involved in
    that activity. Therefore, the fundamental inquiry of a reviewing
    court must be an objective one, namely, whether the facts
    available to the officer at the moment of intrusion warrant a
    [person] of reasonable caution in the belief that the action taken
    was appropriate. Reasonable suspicion for an investigative stop
    cannot rest on … mere presence … in a high crime area. Likewise,
    flight, in and of itself, does not constitute reasonable suspicion of
    criminal conduct to justify a stop.
    Commonwealth v. Chambers, 
    55 A.3d 1208
    , 1215 (Pa. Super. 2012)
    (cleaned up).
    The trial court provided the following analysis in support of its
    determination that Officer Seigafuse possessed reasonable suspicion to
    conduct an investigative stop of Appellant:
    ____________________________________________
    2 Appellant concedes that when he was ultimately apprehended, Officer
    Seigafuse “possessed enough facts to warrant the arrest of Appellant and the
    subsequent search of Appellant incident to arrest. Those facts include
    Appellant’s flight, Appellant’s holding his pocket while he ran, the officer’s
    experience suggesting that this action indicated that Appellant had a weapon,
    and Appellant’s statement that he possessed a gun.” Appellant’s Brief at 10.
    Thus, our attention is focused solely on the facts known to Officer Seigafuse
    at the time of the investigative detention that occurred when he began chasing
    Appellant.
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    J-S50013-20
    Police initially approached Appellant to discuss his involvement in
    the prior day[’]s shooting. On approach, Appellant inexplicably
    fled while holding what appeared to be a large, heavy object in his
    pants pocket. The unprovoked flight, in a high crime area,
    warranted police pursuit. The totality of circumstances clearly
    established that Appellant likely was involved in criminal activity
    when he inexplicably fled after agreeing to speak to Officer
    Seigafuse. Here, the day after a shooting occurred during which
    Appellant was the intended victim, police obviously wanted to
    speak to Appellant after Officer Seigafuse recognized Appellant in
    the video based on previous encounters. Upon spotting Appellant,
    Officer Seigafuse merely approached Appellant to ask if he would
    agree to talk. Appellant initially agreed but then, for no apparent
    reason, fled without provocation. This initial interaction clearly
    was a mere encounter[,] given that Officer Seigafuse did not give
    any orders to Appellant or engage in any conduct that would cause
    a person to believe that he was not free to leave.
    When Officer Seigafuse started to approach, Appellant
    immediately began to run. The dynamic changed[,] giving the
    officer reason to believe that Appellant may be involved in criminal
    activity. That belief was confirmed and became likely when
    Appellant took hold of his right front pocket leading Officer
    Seigafuse to believe that he may be armed and dangerous. In
    addition, these events occurred in a high drug and crime area well
    known for gun violence, facts Officer Seigafuse was well familiar
    with. The officer had been assigned to the neighborhood for
    fifteen years and knew the crimes that occurred therein, including
    “turf wars.” His experience coupled with the other facts and
    circumstances more than justified the officer’s pursuit and
    detention of Appellant.
    TCO at 7-8 (citation omitted).
    Initially, Appellant contests the trial court’s summation of the facts with
    respect to Officer Seigafuse’s observation of Appellant’s reaching for his
    pocket/waistband when in flight as justification for the temporary detention.
    Appellant argues that “this additional development of facts (that Appellant was
    holding his pocket in a manner suggestive of being armed) occurred only after
    the officer’s chase of Appellant, and therefore [after] the officer’s seizure of
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    Appellant under Pennsylvania law[.]”       Appellant’s Brief at 12 n.4.     The
    Commonwealth disputes this account, insisting that
    [Appellant]’s factual assertion is belied by the record. Officer
    Seigafuse testified that he chased [Appellant] after he “took off
    running through a lot[.]” N.T., 12/10/18, at 11. Asked when it
    was that [Appellant] started grabbing at his waistband, the officer
    replied: “As soon as he hit the edge of the lot. So the—at the
    curb, he hits the edge of the lot and he’s running, holding it[.]”
    Id. at 14-15. The officer further explained that [Appellant] had
    his hand at his waistband “the whole time” he ran[.] Id. at 11.
    Thus, contrary to what [Appellant] claims, his grabbing at his
    waistband occurred before Officer Seigafuse pursued him and may
    be considered in determining whether reasonable suspicion
    existed.
    Commonwealth’s Brief at 12 n.4 (citations reformatted).
    We agree with Appellant. Officer Seigafuse testified that, “As I started
    to walk around the car, [Appellant] took off running through a lot. I started
    to chase him. As he -- as he was running, he was holding his right front pant’s
    pocket as he was running the whole time.” N.T., 12/10/18, at 11. Whatever
    ambiguity there was in that statement was soon resolved upon further
    questioning by the prosecutor during the following exchange:
    Q[:] How far away were you from him when you first started
    running?
    A[:] I mean, he was walking towards the vehicle, towards the --
    the length of the vehicle. Maybe another, I would say, 10 to 15
    feet tops.
    Q[:] How far away was he from -- how far after the initial
    encounter when he first started running did you see him start
    grabbing his waistband?
    A[:] As soon as he hit the edge of the lot. So the -- at the curb,
    he hits the edge of the lot and he’s running, holding it.
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    Id. at 14-15.
    The record clearly belies the Commonwealth’s account.              Officer
    Seigafuse indicated that he immediately began chasing Appellant when he
    took flight. Appellant ran through the lot, and Officer Seigafuse stated that
    he first observed the hand movement toward Appellant’s waistband as
    Appellant reached the end of the lot.       At no point did Officer Seigafuse
    indicate that he only began chasing Appellant after he noticed Appellant’s hand
    movement. Accordingly, we agree with Appellant that this observation cannot
    serve to support a finding of reasonable suspicion to engage in the pursuit.
    Nevertheless, it is undisputed that Appellant fled from police in a high
    crime area. These two facts, although innocent in isolation, see Chambers,
    
    supra,
     have been held to be sufficient, in combination, to support a finding of
    reasonable suspicion, see Commonwealth v. Jefferson, 
    853 A.2d 404
     (Pa.
    Super. 2004).
    The precise question before this Court in Jefferson was “whether the
    observation of [the] appellant in a high crime area and [his] flight from police
    combine to establish the familiar Terry standard of reasonable suspicion.” 
    Id. at 405
    . The Jefferson Court began its analysis by recognizing that, in Illinois
    v. Wardlow, 
    528 U.S. 119
     (2000), “The United States Supreme Court held
    that although mere presence in a high crime area is insufficient to support a
    Terry stop, the additional factor of unprovoked flight was indeed relevant.
    The Court ultimately concluded that the two factors in combination were
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    J-S50013-20
    sufficient to satisfy the Terry standard of reasonable suspicion[, hereinafter,
    ‘the Wardlow Rule’].” Jefferson, 
    853 A.2d at 406
    .
    The Jefferson Court then considered whether additional protections
    existed under the Pennsylvania Constitution. However, the Jefferson Court
    determined that our Supreme Court had already answered that question in In
    the Interest of D.M., 
    781 A.2d 1161
     (Pa. 2001) (“D.M. II”), wherein the
    Supreme Court reversed its prior decision in In the Interest of D.M., 
    743 A.2d 422
     (Pa. 1999) (“D.M. I”), based, in part, on Wardlow. Recognizing
    that our Supreme Court has consistently followed the federal rationale in cases
    involving interpretation of Terry, and that “the D.M. II court specifically
    addressed and rejected the suggestion that it depart from the federal high
    court’s reasoning on state constitutional grounds[,]” the Jefferson Court
    concluded that flight from police in a high crime area was also sufficient to
    establish   reasonable   suspicion   under   the   Pennsylvania   Constitution.
    Jefferson, 
    853 A.2d at 406
    .
    Nevertheless, Appellant argues that we should reject application of the
    Wardlow Rule under the facts of this case, first citing to concurring and
    dissenting opinions from various courts that have called that rule into
    question. See Appellant’s Brief at 14-16.     None of these criticisms of the
    Wardlow Rule reflects the current state of the law, as Appellant fails to cite
    any controlling case at odds with the Jefferson Court’s conclusion that the
    Wardlow Rule represents both the Federal and State Constitutional standard
    applicable in Pennsylvania.
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    Appellant also argues that the Wardlow Rule effectively “subordinates
    the totality of the circumstances test” to “a two-factor (i.e., unprovoked flight
    and a high crime area) per se rule.” Appellant’s Brief at 17. He analogizes to
    our Supreme Court’s rejection of the Robinson Rule3 in Hicks.
    Hicks is distinguishable. In that case, our Supreme Court rejected the
    Robinson Rule because,
    rather than requiring a particularized and objective basis for
    suspecting an individual, the [Robinson] Court has deemed the
    conduct of the individual to be functionally irrelevant to the
    analysis. Such is a danger of per se rules, pursuant to which the
    totality of the circumstances inquiry—the whole picture—is
    subordinated to the identification of one, single fact. This is
    distinctly problematic where, as discussed above, the single fact
    isolated from the remainder of the circumstances is an activity
    that is indistinguishable from lawful conduct.
    Hicks, 208 A.3d at 939 (cleaned up).
    Under the Wardlow Rule, although the high-crime-area factor cannot
    establish individualized suspicion by itself, it is the flight-from-police factor
    that demonstrates that the fleeing individual, rather than any other member
    of the community situated in the same high crime area, warrants
    particularized concern by police. In Hicks, our Supreme Court identified the
    problem of per se rules under search and seizure analyses as being reliant on
    ____________________________________________
    3 In Commonwealth v. Robinson, 
    600 A.2d 957
     (Pa. Super. 1991),
    overruled by Commonwealth v. Hicks, 
    208 A.3d 916
     (Pa. 2019), the
    Superior Court held that the observation by police of the possession of a
    concealed firearm by an individual in public was sufficient to create a
    reasonable suspicion to justify a Terry stop in order to determine whether
    that individual was properly licensed.
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    “one,     single   fact[,]”   and    particularly    on     a   solitary   fact   that   was
    “indistinguishable from lawful conduct.” Hicks, 208 A.3d at 939. Here, the
    Wardlow Rule does not involve reasonable suspicion based on a single fact.
    Nevertheless, we agree with Appellant that per se rules are generally
    disfavored, as the overarching standard under both the Fourth Amendment
    and Article I, Section 8, demands consideration of the totality of the
    circumstances known to the officer at the time a seizure is effectuated.
    Recently, for instance, this Court rejected recognition of a per se rule that the
    odor of marijuana, by itself, always establishes probable cause to conduct a
    search.    See Commonwealth v. Barr, 
    240 A.3d 1263
    , 1276 (Pa. Super.
    2020). We noted therein that a “per se rule undermines the very nature of
    the totality-of-the-circumstances test for probable cause, which is a fluid
    concept-turning on the assessment of probabilities in particular factual
    contexts not readily, or even usefully, reduced to a neat set of legal rules.”
    
    Id.
     (cleaned up).        In Barr, we determined that, at suppression, the lower
    court “was free to weigh the inference of criminality implied by the odor of
    marijuana against other relevant facts known to the officers in
    determining whether they possessed probable cause to conduct the search.”
    
    Id.
     (emphasis added). In that case, before they conducted a search of Barr’s
    vehicle, the police were presented with a medical marijuana card that
    potentially undermined the assumption of criminality. See id. at 1288.
    Likewise, with respect to the Wardlow Rule, there may some
    circumstances       in   which      additional      facts   tend     to    undermine     the
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    reasonableness of the suspicion of criminal activity that stems from the
    observation of flight from police in a high crime area. Appellant argues that
    such additional facts are present here:
    Turning now to the instant matter, it must be appreciated that the
    officer’s stop of Appellant here did not occur in a factual vacuum.
    When the officer exited his vehicle and asked to talk to Appellant,
    Appellant was being confronted by an officer who had previously
    assisted in the arrest of Appellant. That such a talk was a prelude
    to further detention of Appellant by this officer must have
    appeared to Appellant as a not insignificant possibility,
    notwithstanding the fact that Appellant was the victim of the crime
    being investigated by the officer. Furthermore, Appellant was
    accosted near the very location in which he had been shot at the
    day before. Since Appellant was the intended target of gun
    violence in that area, being seen talking to the police, perhaps
    being seen by the very persons who had shot at him, would give
    those persons greater incentive to carry through with their
    harmful intentions towards Appellant, as well as perhaps gaining
    Appellant further opprobrium in the neighborhood by being
    labeled as a snitch. In addition, as present experiences have
    taught, the specter of unlawful harm by the police is always
    present.
    Appellant’s Brief at 23. Appellant also contends, at various times throughout
    his brief, that it is relevant that Officer Seigafuse knew Appellant was the
    victim of the shooting under investigation, not a perpetrator and, thus, the
    officer did not initially approach Appellant with the suspicion that he was
    engaged in criminal activity.
    We are not convinced that any of these additional circumstances
    undermined the trial court’s determination that Officer Seigafuse possessed
    reasonable suspicion to pursue Appellant.       We instead agree with the
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    J-S50013-20
    Commonwealth that these potentially innocent reasons for Appellant’s flight
    are not relevant to our analysis:
    [Appellant] attempts to minimize the relevance of his flight as a
    factor in the reasonable-suspicion analysis by advancing non-
    criminal reasons as to why someone in his shoes may have wanted
    to flee from the police. But[,] the fact that he can conjure up
    innocent explanations for such a person’s flight hardly undermines
    the lower court’s conclusion that reasonable suspicion existed.
    This is because a finding of reasonable suspicion “need not rule
    out the possibility of innocent conduct.” United States v.
    Arvizu, 
    534 U.S. 266
    , 277 (2002); see also Commonwealth v.
    Carter, 
    105 A.3d 765
    , 769 (Pa. Super. 2014) (en banc) ([stating
    that,] “even in a case where one could say that the conduct of a
    person is equally consistent with innocent activity, the
    suppression court would not be foreclosed from concluding that
    reasonable suspicion nevertheless existed”) (emphasis in
    original). In fact, even the higher standard of probable cause does
    not require the police to rule out the possibility of an innocent
    explanation for otherwise suspicious facts. District of Columbia
    v. Wesby, 
    138 S.Ct. 577
    , 588 (2018). Significantly, in …
    Wardlow, supra—which itself held that flight in a high-crime
    area provides sufficient basis to stop an individual for
    investigation—the United States Supreme Court rejected the very
    argument advanced by [Appellant]:
    Respondent and amici also argue that there are innocent
    reasons for flight from police and that, therefore, flight is
    not necessarily indicative of ongoing criminal activity. This
    fact is undoubtedly true, but does not establish a violation
    of the Fourth Amendment. Even in Terry, the conduct
    justifying the stop was ambiguous and susceptible of an
    innocent explanation. The officer observed two individuals
    pacing back and forth in front of a store, peering into the
    window and periodically conferring. [Terry,] 
    392 U.S. at
    5–
    6. All of this conduct was by itself lawful, but it also
    suggested that the individuals were casing the store for a
    planned robbery. Terry recognized that the officers could
    detain the individuals to resolve the ambiguity. 
    Id. at 30
    .
    []Wardlow, 
    528 U.S. at 125
     (parallel citations omitted); see also
    … Carter, 105 A.3d at 772-73 (noting that “in Terry itself, the
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    J-S50013-20
    conduct of the defendant could have easily been characterized as
    completely innocent”).
    Commonwealth’s Brief at 14-15. Indeed, the desire to avoid visible contact
    with police in a high crime area may very well lead many to flee from police
    for non-criminal reasons, such as the desire to avoid negative social
    consequences, and Appellant’s prior interactions with Officer Seigafuse do not
    make him unique in that regard. This same motivation could be in play in
    most cases involving application of the Wardlow Rule. However, the mere
    potential for a non-criminal reason for taking flight does not negate a finding
    of reasonable suspicion.   As the Wardlow Court recognized, “[h]eadlong
    flight—wherever it occurs—is the consummate act of evasion: It is not
    necessarily indicative of wrongdoing, but it is certainly suggestive of such.”
    Wardlow, 
    528 U.S. at 124
    .
    Moreover, the fact that Officer Seigafuse was not initially investigating
    Appellant as the perpetrator of a shooting, but as a victim, is also irrelevant
    to our analysis. Jefferson is instructive here. In that case, police “were on
    marked patrol in a Philadelphia neighborhood in which drug sales were
    common and a shooting recently occurred.”       Jefferson, 
    853 A.2d at 405
    .
    Subsequently, “[w]hen the officers observed [the] appellant and another man
    on the street in the area, the men promptly ran away. The officers stopped
    to investigate and the pair responded by fleeing in a different direction. The
    police then gave chase….” 
    Id.
     Nevertheless, the Jefferson Court applied the
    Wardlow Rule.     
    Id. at 407
    .    The fact that Appellant was initially being
    approached due to his status as a victim is effectively no different than had
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    J-S50013-20
    he been approached for no particular reason at all. This is because the nexus
    between Appellant’s conduct and the suspected criminal activity justifying the
    seizure stemmed solely from his flight from police in a high crime area, not
    from Officer Seigafuse’s observation of Appellant on the video of the shooting.
    In   sum,    Appellant     has   not    demonstrated    that    any   additional
    circumstances known to Officer Seigafuse undermine the reasoning of the
    Wardlow Rule.        The Wardlow Rule assumes that there may be innocent
    explanations for flight from police, but nevertheless holds that the observation
    of flight from police in a high crime area provides sufficient individualized
    suspicion that criminal activity is afoot so as to justify a Terry stop.
    Additionally, to the extent that Appellant asks this Court to reconsider
    Jefferson, we are compelled to decline that invitation.4 “As a subsequent
    panel reviewing an issue already decided by a panel of this Court, we are
    obligated to     follow    the   law    as articulated by     the     previous panel.”
    Commonwealth v. Pepe, 
    897 A.2d 463
    , 466 (Pa. Super. 2006).
    Judgment of Sentence affirmed.
    ____________________________________________
    4 In this regard, Appellant provides several arguments and citations to
    relevant research that collectively suggests that the observation of flight from
    police in a high crime area is not “a reliable indication of criminal activity.”
    Appellant’s Brief at 17. While we share at least some of Appellant’s concerns
    about the Wardlow Rule, see Barr, 240 A.3d at 1291 (Strassburger, J.,
    concurring), it is simply beyond the authority of this panel to reject the rule’s
    application in Pennsylvania given this Court’s prior decision in Jefferson.
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    J-S50013-20
    Judge Strassburger did not participate in the consideration or decision
    of this case.
    Judgment Entered.
    Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
    Prothonotary
    Date: 3/18/21
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