The People v. Macias CA4/3

FACTS

After a traffic stop during which police recovered a baggie of methamphetamine, detective Diego Gomez went to defendant’s apartment as part of his investigation. Defendant opened the door when Gomez knocked but he tried to close it

2 when Gomez’s partner identified him by name. Gomez grabbed defendant by the shirt and passed him off to his partner. Gomez then saw Miguel Velasquez, aka Mousey, an active member of Los Crooks criminal street gang, walking from the living room toward the bedroom. While Gomez’s partner was handcuffing defendant, Gomez jumped a sofa and grabbed Velasquez before he reached the bedroom. Defendant managed to slip his left hand out of the handcuffs because he was “sweating profusely,” and ran outside. He did not make it far and was detained. In addition to the heavy sweating, Gomez noted defendant also spoke rapidly and had “a thick coat of an off-white substance around his mouth and tongue.” Defendant informed Gomez the single bedroom apartment was his. Upon searching the bedroom, Gomez found defendant’s wallet and miscellaneous documents with his name and gang indicia or graffiti belonging to the Los Crooks and Eastside Santa Ana criminal street…