A Brooklyn federal judge has tossed critical evidence against a alleged crack-dealing Queens gang member busted with an assault rifle, throwing his case into turmoil, court records state.
Judge Jack Weinstein voided evidence against Shakeel “Blam” Wiggins last week because an NYPD cop didn’t properly fill out a search-warrant application that turned up the weapon as well as a handgun and a cocaine cache last September, court papers say.
The ruling will likely allow Wiggins, a prior felon, to walk.
Weinstein ruled that the search warrant did not specify which unit in the multi-family home was to be searched, thereby making what cops found in Wiggins’ home inadmissable.
“New York City police officers put their lives on the line to get these illegal weapons off the street,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association boss Patrick Lynch said of the ruling. “There are some technicalities — like if the premise is a single- or multiple-family dwelling — that are so insignificant that suppressing the evidence actually subverts justice and public safety.”
Cops kicked in the door of a second-story unit that housed a family with no relation to Wiggins or his relatives, court papers state. After realizing that he lived in another unit, the cops headed downstairs where they found Wiggins trying to flee.